No end in sight to Malabon standoff?

"Make my day."

This was virtually what Vice Mayor Mark Allan Jay Yambao, acting mayor of Malabon, told suspended Mayor Amado Vicencio last Sunday night, in response to a plea for the political upstart to step down and allow the mayor to re-enter city hall unmolested the next day, Monday.

"I told him he is free to enter the city hall if he believes his suspension (by Malacañang) has already been lifted," Yambao told The STAR. He added he will obey and follow but only when there is due process.

"If the DILG says so, I have no problem with that. Meanwhile, it is he who should follow," Yambao said.

In the meeting held at an undisclosed place in Quezon City, Yambao dared Vicencio to re-enter the city hall and make the first (legal) move against his assuming office as the acting mayor of Malabon. Yambao said if this happens he would "return the favor."

Yambao said this before allegedly turning his back on what Vicencio’s camp called "a gentlemen’s agreement" for him to step down and follow the Court of Appeals, which issued a temporary restraining order against the suspension.

The vice mayor declined to comment on the issue over the First Monday Mass.

Yambao was denied a Mass he had requested at city hall.

The denial came on the heels of two separate thanksgiving Masses which Fr. Ric Torrefiel, parish priest of the San Bartoleme Church Parish, a stone’s throw away from the city hall, celebrated on behalf of Vicencio.

"I’m a good Catholic. I’d rather not comment against the church or the priests. Itanong mo na lang sa mga parishioners na nakakita," Yambao told The STAR.

In turning down the request, the priest said he simply wanted to keep his distance from the political turmoil.

"I would have wanted to join you (in a Mass on May 5 at the city hall amphitheater), but the current political controversy which has confused our people regarding the legitimacy of the incumbent city mayor, and to prevent the Church from interfering with the present political legal problems, would not allow me to accept your invitation," Torrefiel told Yambao in a letter dated May 2.

The priest added that he is not depriving Yambao of his right to the sacrament but said unless the current problem is settled, all district clergymen are forbidden to celebrate Masses at the Malabon city hall or in any government offices to avoid using the church for political gimmickry, "for which I would be held responsible."

Every first Monday of the moth, city hall requests a priest from the parishes of the city, on rotation, to say Mass at the amphitheater.

Meanwhile, a letter traced to the parish where Vicencio lives (Potrero, Malabon) and sent by Fr. Adrian Magnait urged President Arroyo to intervene in the crisis.

"Please stop the political maneuverings and deceit and castigate the local officials," the priest pleaded in a letter dated April 27, also asking the two mayors to work for the good of the people and not their self-interests. He denied he was pressured by Vicencio in sending the letter.