Malabon mayor digs in for the long haul

The crowds holding fort at the Malabon City Hall for the last five days to prevent the suspension order issued by Malacañang from getting served on him may have gone home but the battle has just begun as to who will be the man to officially run the city.

City Mayor Amado Vicencio has not thrown in the towel yet and is apparently digging in for the long haul, determined to exhaust all the remedies in his power to keep himself from being dislodged for the second time in his last term as city mayor. Vicencio is still holding out despite the local DILG having successfully served the 60-day suspension order, Thursday afternoon "while he was not looking." Local DILG director Jovian Ingenero, at around 4 p.m. Thursday posted the order at the gate of the mayor’s residence in Araneta Village in Potrero, Malabon witnessed by Metro DILG director Serafin Benaldo, newly-promoted Northern Police District Office (NPDO) director Chief Superintendent Marcelino Franco Jr. and other local officials.

Councilor Edilberto Torres, one of the four original petitioners of the case against Vicencio, said the move, called "substituted service," was remedy if the order cannot be served actually and personally on the respondent. He said it was sufficient basis for Vice Mayor Mark Allan Jay Yambao to take his place as acting mayor. Yambao has assumed office having been sworn in before closing of office hours Thursday.

Vicencio’s supporters had barricaded the city hall since Monday last week in a bid to thwart any attempt to have the order personally served on him. "Tuloy ang laban. Sa ganang akin, illegal ang kanilang ginawa (posting the suspension order at the gate of his house)," Vicencio told The STAR yesterday, determined to continue the fight saying his supporters will be back at the barricade tomorrow. The mayor said he is waiting for the temporary restraining order his lawyers filed last Thursday. He said he expects it to be handed down tomorrow.

Sources at the Department of Justice, however, said the mayor could be waiting in vain. The TRO docketed as Special Case No. 77614 was raffled off to the 9th Division of the Court of Appeals at around 10 a.m. Friday and reached the division justices by around 2 p.m.