Bayron unfazed by disqualification moves against him

Mayor Lucilo Bayron is unfazed by the recent complaint filed against him before the Ombudsman’s office by a critic, a city government official said. City administrator and legal officer Atty. Arnel Pedrosa said this week that Mayor Bayron is confident that the actions of his critics, such as Jose Maria “Joey” Mirasol, will not have any effect on his candidacy. Pedrosa said Mirasol’s recent move “does not shake” Bayron because he misunderstood the decision of the Ombudsman regarding the administrative case.

On January 7, Ombudsman’s office Enforcement and Monitoring Unit (EMU) GIPO III and acting head Irmina H. Bautista, wrote to Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Sec. Eduardo Año asking to be informed about the implementation of the “Aldrin Madreo versus Lucilo R. Bayron, et. al.” administrative case decision. Bautista asked the DILG to be updated after receiving two letters from Mirasol dated October 26 and November 5, 2018, requesting the immediate implementation of the Ombudsman’s administrative case decision. Apparently, without action from the DILG, Mirasol wrote to the Ombudsman’s office again on January 28, 2019, under the civil society group Advocates for Excellent Government (AEG), asking Bautista to advise him on what has transpired regarding the implementation. Pedrosa said Mirasol’s interpretation of the rule was wrong because the Ombudsman’s decision had already been reversed. “Hindi mo na siya puwedeng i-implement when the decision of the Ombudsman was already reversed, otherwise, what decision are you going to enforce? The decision of the Ombudsman na sinasabi nilang executory was already reversed by the Court of Appeals and that matter ay pending na rin sa Supreme Court (SC),” said Pedrosa. (You cannot implement the decision of the Ombudsman because it was already reversed, otherwise, what decision are you going to enforce? The decision of the Ombudsman that he said is executory was already reversed by the Court of Appeals and that matter is now pending in the SC.) He said Mirasol should just respect the authority of the SC to decide on the matter. Pedrosa said they do not understand why Mirasol is “persistently pursuing” the Ombudsman on the matter when it was Madreo who filed the case years ago. “Hindi ko nga alam kung bakit masyado siyang persistent sa kaso na ‘yan, kung ano ba ‘yong interest niya (I don’t know why he’s very persistent regarding this case, or what’s his interest),” he pointed out. Pedrosa said the only thing he can think about is because Mirasol is affiliated to former mayor Edward Hagedorn who also petitioned the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) Law Department last year to nullify Bayron’s candidacy because of the administrative case. Pedrosa said Bayron was required by the COMELEC on the second week of January to submit another follow-up memorandum supporting the stand on why he must not be disqualified. He said this was already accomplished by the lawyers of Bayron around the third week of January. Pedrosa said they are confident that COMELEC’s ruling will be in favor of Bayron.