City Council Secretary Melvin Quevas, who has taken over some of the functions of City Administrator Samilo Barlongay, said that it was Barlongay himself, a lawyer, who advised Vicencio to just settle the dispute in court.
"Maybe he (Vicencio) heeded the advice of City Administrator Barlongay to straighten out the issue before a proper forum," he said.
He added that Barlongay could have convinced Vicencio not to push through with his comeback plan to prevent violence from breaking out.
The STAR tried to interview Barlongay at his office at the City Hall but was advised by his staff that "he has now very limited knowledge" about the present affair of the city government as some of his functions were relegated to Quevas.
Quevas, however, said he was only designated by Acting Mayor Mark Allan Yambao in signing on his personal behalf and official communications. "Barlongay is still the city administrator and we are closely coordinating with him the city government’s activities," he said.
Quevas also assured casual employees that there will be no transfer or layoffs that would be undertaken within their ranks contrary to the rumors spreading at City Hall.
"Acting Mayor Yambao never issued any memo to such effect," he said.
After a Mass at the San Bartolome Church near City Hall Monday, Vicencio urged his supporters to continue the fight as he vehemently denied receiving any order from Malacañang.
He insisted that he did not personally received the order, which the local head of the Department of the Interior and Local Government, Jovian Ingenero, posted at the gate of his house last Thursday.
Yambao called on the city residents and to those opposed to his assumption of the post to leave politics behind and work together for the benefit of Malabon.
Loyal followers of Vicencio lifted their five-day human barricade in front of City Hall last Friday. They had successfully thwarted the Department of the Interior and Local Government from serving the suspension order until last Thursday.
DILG men posted the order at the gate of Vicencio’s residence in Araneta Village, Barangay Potrero. Nobody was there to receive it in the mayor’s behalf. Yambao was also sworn in that night as acting city mayor.
Vicencio, who is facing an administrative case filed against him by four opposition councilors over the alleged anomalous acquisition of a piece of land in Barangay Tanza, Navotas, claimed that the DILG’s action was illegal, and vowed to continue the fight.
His camp claimed that the mayor was being prosecuted for "entering into a contract which was recently upheld, adopted and lauded by the national government." – Pete Laude