Long dead, of late suspended

 

“WHEREFORE, the Prayer for Preventive Suspension insofar as the following incumbent officials of the Municipal Government of Porac, Pampanga, are concerned, namely, respondents: 

            JAIME V. CAPIL, Mayor

            FRANCIS LAURENCE V. TAMAYO, Vice Mayor;

EMERALD VITAL, Licensing Assistant/then OIC Business Permit and Licensing Office;   

            Sanggunian Bayan Members

            Rohner Buan;

Rafael Canlapan;

Adrian Carreon;

Regin Clarete;

Essel Joy David;

Hilario Dimalanta;

Michelle Santos; and

John Nuevy Venzon

is hereby GRANTED...”

THUS, the Ombudsman ordered on Oct. 7, 2024 the wholesale suspension of the elected local officials of Porac for gross neglect of duty vis-a-vis the illegal operation of a Philippine offshore gaming operator (POGO) hub in Barangay Sta. Cruz that came to light only with the raid of its premises by the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission last June.

Suspension orders from the Ombudsman have been so routinary that they hardly draw any attention but that of their subjects. So, why has this particular one become divertingly discomfiting, to the point of being bannered in some digital publications?

                                          The late Porac Councilor Regin Clarete. FB photo

One for the books, Guinness’ included mayhaps, is the Ombudsman’s inclusion in its suspension order of councilor Regin Clarete who died in May 2023, and succeeded to his post in September of that same year by his sister, Myla Clarete, who, as the lone councilor untouched by the suspension, assumed office as acting mayor on Oct. 11.

Pray, tell, how does the Ombudsman expect the dead councilor to serve his suspension? While this apparent inadvertence by the Ombudsman makes the joke of the day, it has not escaped the more astute to see it as a joke on the Porac populace itself.

For one, the suspension order was signed on Oct. 7, the penultimate day of the filing of the certificate of candidacy. Running for six months, the suspension ends in April, a month before the elections. The reelectionist mayor, et al clearly put to a disadvantage there, deprived of availment of the LGU’s resources. 

More telling, acting Mayor Clarete, while not a candidate for any position in next year’s polls, is the sister-in-law of Mike Tapang, who is all-out to wrest the mayoralty from Capil in 2025.

So, who’s laughing?