SC asked to resolve case of 2 ‘mayors’

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya — A human rights lawyer has petitioned the Supreme Court to resolve the mayoral dispute in Solano town which has been affecting the operations of the municipal government for more than a week now.

Lawyer Ernesto Salun-at, a former governor of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, said his petition to resolve the political crisis in neighboring Solano town was filed with the High Court the other day with a prayer that the tribunal solve the impasse soonest.

Solano folk are still at a loss as Philip Dacayo and Santiago Dickson both claim to be the rightful mayor and are both discharging the duties and functions of the position.

Dacayo was sworn into office by no less than Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman Benjamin Abalos at the Comelec central office in Manila at about 10 a.m. of June 30.

Dickson, for his part, took his oath of office before Regional Trial Court Judge Jose Rosales at about noon the same day.

Dacayo said his assumption into office was based on Comelec Resolution No. 7259 dated June 30, which affirmed his certificate of candidacy as lawful and legal substitute candidate for his father, the late Solano Mayor Heraldo Dacayo.

Mayor-Elect’s Death

The elder Dacayo won another three-year term in the May 10 elections. But he died on May 14, a day after he and Dickson were proclaimed mayor-elect and vice mayor-elect, respectively, along with the eight elected municipal councilors.

Dickson said the elder Dacayo’s death qualifies him to take over as mayor based on the law of succession.

In the meantime, both Dacayo and Dickson have agreed to both act as mayor so as not to paralyze the operations of the municipal government and to defuse tension between their followers.

The two "mayors" have agreed to share office at the second floor of the municipal building and both sign any official document. Both have also agreed to have a say in any transaction involving the municipal government.

This arrangement, Dacayo said, will remain until an appropriate court rules with finality as to who between them has the legal and rightful personality to assume as mayor of Solano town.

In his five-page petition, Salun-at asked the Supreme Court to order Dacayo "to desist from performing duties as mayor" and for Dickson to take over the mayoralty post in an acting capacity pending the tribunal’s decision on the mayoral impasse.

Comelec Action Hit

Salun-at said the Comelec’s action giving due course to the young Dacayo’s candidacy more than a month after the May 10 elections was "incomprehensible, enormously and grossly unfair and defies reason, logic and common sense."

For his part, Dacayo said his being a substitute candidate for his late father had gone through the legal and lawful process, both in form and in substance.

The Comelec resolution, he said, further affirmed and legitimized his claim to the mayoralty post.

Salun-at, along with losing mayoral candidates, former mayors Epifanio Galima and Wilson Salas, also has a pending petition with the Supreme Court seeking clarification if the law of succession applies to Dickson.

The petitioners also asked the tribunal to order the holding of special elections for the Solano mayorship if Dickson fails to qualify for the position under the law of succession.