MAGALANG, Pampanga – Pampanga police director Senior Superintendent Keith Singian said yesterday that effective Monday, this town will be functioning under a new mayor, after Mayor Lyndon Cunanan agreed to give way on certain conditions to businessman Romulo Pecson.
“Cunanan merely asked permission from the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) that he be allowed to still use his office in the municipal hall until the Commission on Elections (Comelec) decides on their case on April 1,” Singian said.
“We have already resolved the dispute. Cunanan has agreed to allow Pecson to fully function as mayor starting Monday but he (Cunanan) asked that he be allowed the continued use of his office at the municipal hall at least until April 1,” Singian said.
Singian said that both Pecson and DILG authorities granted Cunanan’s request.
Pecson has been holding office at the registrar’s office separate from the municipal building since Holy Monday.
The Comelec earlier required Cunanan and Pecson to appear before April 1 to resolve the electoral dispute between them, following a decision by the Angeles City Regional Trial Court declaring Pecson as the winner in the mayoral elections here last year.
Cunanan later appealed the RTC decision before the Comelec’s second division, but the division came out with a divided decision. While Commissioner Rene Sarmiento upheld the RTC verdict, Commissioner Nicodemo Ferrer dissented, saying that Pecson’s claim to victory was not clearly established and that a status quo should therefore be maintained so as not to disrupt operations of the local government.
Cunanan thus brought his case before the Comelec.
Tension heightened here starting Holy Monday after the RTC issued a writ of execution of its decision, but Cunanan refused to vacate his post as he cited that his case remained pending before the Comelec. – Ding Cervantes