Batangas town has 2 mayors

SAN PASCUAL, Batangas — Tension gripped this town last Wednesday as hundreds of supporters of the incumbent mayor trooped to the town hall when a court sheriff tried to serve an order unseating him and installing a new chief executive.

Mayor Mario Magsaysay Jr., however, instructed his staff to padlock all the gates of the municipal hall before the sheriff of Branch 3 of the Regional Trial Court-Fourth Judicial Region could serve the May 2 writ of execution issued by Judge Ruben Galvez. 

In the one-page order, Galvez unseated Magsaysay and declared Antonio Dimayuga the town’s duly elected mayor.

Galvez annulled and set aside Magsaysay’s proclamation and directed him "to vacate and desist from further performing the functions of the Office of the Mayor."

The court granted Dimayuga’s motion for execution pending appeal and reconsideration, but ordered him to post a bond of P100,000 to answer for whatever order the Commission on Elections (Comelec) might issue on Magsaysay’s appeal.

The STAR tried to get Magsaysay’s reaction to the writ of execution but he had made himself scarce to the media.

One of his staffers, who refused to be identified, said they had to padlock the gates of the municipal hall for security reasons although work still continued in the different departments.

Dimayuga, for his part, expressed optimism that the political conflict would end soon.

"All I want is to serve my constituents and I hope this (problem) ends immediately," he said.

Asked what his first action as mayor would be, Dimayuga said he would check the municipal treasury to determine if any funds are missing.

Dimayuga had sent a memorandum to all municipal department heads for an emergency meeting but no one attended.

"Nakakapagtaka dahil naka-leave daw lahat ng mga department heads noong nagpatawag ako ng meeting (It was surprising that all department heads were supposedly on leave when I called for a meeting)," he said.

"I’m not accusing (Magsaysay) of cheating but what I’m saying is the court said that I’ve won," Dimayuga said.

Based on the tallies of the May 2004 mayoral electisons, Magsaysay won by as much as 1,400 votes over Dimayuga.

Dimayuga, however, filed a protest, claiming that numerous ballots were spuriously signed by only one or two persons and should be voided.

He further claimed that there were also ballots found with "marks" and thus, should be considered invalid.

In the court’s final count, Dimayuga emerged as the winner by a thin margin of 41 votes over Magsaysay.