Pangasinan News – 5 Officials in Pangasinan Face Petition Recall
A recall petition against five elected officials of Bani, a second class town of Pangasinan, was filed before the municipal elections office here Friday morning.
The four-page petition, signed by Marcelo Tugas, barangay chairman of Garrita, Bani, was endorsed by 7,453 registered voters of Bani in last year’s barangay election.
Municipal Elections Officer Amelia Olores officially received the petition from Tugas, accompanied by his lawyer and some of those who affixed their signature to the petition.
Earlier on Thursday, the petitioner and some 200 of the signatories held a People’s Forum at the town’s covered court prior before proceeding to the local election office.
At first, Tugas and the other signatories hinted there was a deliberate attempt on the part of Olores and her assistant Malou Apolento not to go to their office to avoid receiving the petition, as Olores is the wife of Councilor Tamerlene Olores, one of the five elected officials of Bani sought to be recalled.
However, Tugas and his lawyers sent a facsimile message to the Provincial Elections Office to let Olores and Apolento to report for work the next day to receive the petition.
It was learned that Olores was in Dagupan City Thursday to attend a meeting of all election officers called by Provincial Election Officer Temie Lambino whiler Apolento was on leave of absence.
Olores was ordered to report for work on Friday and Apolento to cancel her leave for her to report for work and receive the petition.
Other elected officials of Bani sought to be recalled, aside from Olores, are Vice Mayor Filipinas Rivera and Councilors Rosalinda Acenas, Ruben Ampler and Cothera Gwen Yamamoto.
Rivera, a lawyer, said she and the four councilors being sought to be recalled, are unfazed even as they denied that they are being unproductive and are against the town’s progress.
Loss of confidence, for being allegedly unproductive and anti-progress, was the reason cited by Tugas in seeking for the recall of the five Bani town officials.
Mayor Marcelo Navarro Jr. said the 7,453 signatories who affixed their signatures to the petition comprised 27 percent of the town’s over 26,000 registered voters.
Under the Local Government Code and the law on recall enacted by Congress, just the signatures of 20 percent of the registered voters in a place can effect the recall of elected officials.
Lawyer Gerpy Erguiza, legal adviser of Mayor Navarro, said the Comelec will first verify the signatures appearing in the petition before deciding on whether it will grant the same.
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