Cuerpo: Sedition raps mere harassment

Rodriguez, Rizal Mayor Pedro Cuerpo yesterday dismissed as mere harassment the sedition charges filed against him and six councilors for occupying the mayor’s office during his six-month suspension early this year.

Cuerpo said he expects his detractors to file more charges against him, especially with his pronouncement that he would challenge Rizal Gov. Casimiro Ynares III in the 2010 elections.

According to Cuerpo, the sedition case filed against him by Vice Mayor Jonas Cruz would not cow him and his supporters over the landfill issue, “more so now when we caught them poisoning our rivers.”

Cruz and three other complainants filed the sedition charges before the San Mateo municipal trial court (MTC) against Cuerpo and councilors Alberto Carasco, Aileen Quien Fernandez, Romelito Bunag, Richard Buizon, and Association of Barangay Councils chairman Salvador Simbulan Sr. for allegedly forcibly entering and illegally occupying the town hall last March 24.

At the time, Cuerpo was serving his six-month suspension ordered by the provincial government.

In a two-page resolution dated Sept. 24, third assistant provincial prosecutor Gloria de Guzman, prosecuting attorney II Cheloy Garafil, and assistant provincial prosecutor Severino Alforte found probable cause in the sedition complaint.

The prosecutors said Cuerpo and the six councilors conspired and helped one another “by means of force, intimidation, and by other means outside of legal methods” to conduct a “public and tumultuous uprising in order to prevent the execution of an administrative suspension order” issued by Ynares’ office against Cuerpo.

The San Mateo MTC issued an arrest warrant against Cuerpo and the six councilors, who all posted P8,000 bail last Friday.

Cruz hailed the decision of the provincial prosecutor’s office.

“I stood by my position that the act committed by the mayor and other members of the Sangguniang Bayan of Rodriguez of preventing the municipal government from freely discharging its function of serving our townmates constituted an illegal act that must not be countenanced in a society where the rule of law is expected to prevail,” Cruz said.

He said he felt vindicated by the filing of charges against Cuerpo and the councilors.

For his part, Cuerpo said he had no intention of overthrowing the municipal government or doing anything illegal.

He said he is surprised why the provincial government made an issue over his entering the municipal hall at the height of his suspension.

“Don’t I have the right to answer the concerns aired by my constituents during a public hearing, more so I was invited?” he asked.

Cuerpo brushed aside plans of filing counter-charges against Cruz and his fellow complainants.

“Public service is my primary concern and I will not waste my precious time on such nonsense. I will just concentrate on serving my constituents and face whatever legal case they want to file against me,” he said.

“It is very apparent that these cases are nothing but acts of harassment meant to cow us into submission and give up our fight over the landfill issue, more so now when we caught them poisoning our rivers.”

Cuerpo, who is serving his third and last term, said he expects more cases to be slapped against him as he has declared his intention to run for governor in 2010. – With Rainier Allan Ronda