Bacaltos dismantles plywood at doorway

CEBU, Philippines - Embattled acting Talisay City College president Ritchel Bacaltos and his staff yesterday dismantled the plywood meant to close his office reportedly upon the order of the mayor.

Upon the instruction of Mayor Johnny De los Reyes, the team of Dr. Paulus Mariae Cañete led by Dr. Emedio Bustillo and Dr. Elmer Repalda closed the office of Bacaltos and the office of registrar last Wednesday night.

Yesterday, however, after the plywood was removed, normal work routine in the campus went on.

Bacaltos arrived at his office at around 8 a.m. yesterday and apparently there was not any blockade from the city government that cordoned the closed office.

Bacaltos said that his lawyer advised they would not face any legal consequences when they are to remove the plywood.  In fact, he said they are instead filing charges of contempt of court against the mayor and  Cañete for not obeying the status quo ordered by the judiciary.

"The (quo warranto) case is still pending and what they did was a violation of the procedure of the law," Bacaltos said.

At around 10:30 a.m., city legal officer lawyer Alfredo Sipalay, as well as the representatives from the general services and accounting offices, arrived at Bacaltos' office reportedly to "conduct an inventory."

Bacaltos welcomed his visitors and appealed to them that no properties and documents be taken from his office.

Sipalay said they asked Bacaltos to gracefully vacate his office since he is not the campus president anymore. Bacaltos, according to Sipalay, should let Cañete assume as the latter is the newly-recognized president of the campus as per De los Reyes.

Bacaltos contended that their camp is still waiting for the court decision.

But Sipalay argued it was not proper since their motion for a temporary restraining Order and injunction was already denied by the court and that there was no status quo order granted by the court.

Sipalay described Bacaltos' actions as "delaying tactics." He added that when Bacaltos leaves his office, personnel from the city government will again close his office.

For his part, Bacaltos said that they will just remove the plywood back then when he reports to his office. "Ako sad ning pabantayan ang gawas sa akong office aron naay mobabag sa mga tawo nga mosira ini," he said.

Meanwhile, Cañete said Bacaltos's function in the campus is all null and void and will not be given merit by other educational institutions and may prejudice the students' records.

Cañete said that he is the right person to sign the diplomas and the transcript of records of all students. For him, Bacaltos' appointment was null and void since the beginning, considering that he does not possess the doctorate degree which is a requisite in handling or managing a college. (FREEMAN)