Dumanjug has 2 sitting ‘mayors’

Dumanjug, Cebu has two municipal mayors as dismissed mayor Efren Guntrasno Gica refused to vacate the mayorship despite his replacement as ordered by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG).

Last Saturday, Dec. 29, DILG Cebu Provincial Director Jerome Gonzales served an order from their central office reinstalling Vice Mayor Rene Asenstista as full-pledged mayor, replacing Gica who was dismissed by the Ombudsman.

The DILG already installed Asentista as mayor last January, but Gica reassumed as mayor last September after the Court of Appeals (CA) reversed the order of the Ombudsman.

The DILG is the agency that implements the Local Government Code of 1991 and oversees all local government units (LGUs).

DILG 7 Director Leocadio Trovela, a lawyer, said that as far as the DILG is concerned, Asentista is the legitimate mayor of Dumanjug.

Former mayor Nelson Garcia, the complainant against Gica, said the reassumption of Gica is illegal and not through the DILG, which is also in violation of Rule 52, Section 4 of the Rules of Court because he (Garcia) filed a motion for reconsideration before the CA within the 15-day reglamentary period.

Garcia said he will file criminal and administrative charges against Gica, the municipal treasurer and a Land Bank Cebu manager for conniving in the release of millions of Dumanjug funds when, in fact, Gica had no authority to do so.

Garcia said the CA erred in clearing Gica’s violation of the law through the Aguinaldo Doctrine when Gica won in 2016. The Aguinaldo Doctrine was already abolished by the Supreme Court in 2015, he said.