Former Panglao Mayor Leonila “Nila” Montero made a surprise political maneuver when she tried to flex her muscles by paying a visit to Mayor Pedro Fuertes and delivered a speech at the Sangguniang Bayan (SB) on August 13, 2018.
Trailed by her coterie of loyalists clad in green, Montero brandished before Fuertes a letter she wrote the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Eduardo Ano informing him of her “intent to reassume her position as municipal mayor effective immediately . . .”
TIRED OF WAITING
But according to sources, Montero will mount a dramatic comeback tomorrow, Monday, August 20, 2018, during the Monday flag ceremony perhaps armed with a court order for her immediate reinstatement or a favorable response from the DILG of her letter to Ano.
According to Fuertes that as a student of law like Montero, he will abide by the final decision of the court and will respect the procedures as laid in the rules of court for the general welfare and order of the community.
Montero is out on bail pending resolution of a criminal case filed by Augustin Cloribel for appointing four losing candidates to positions in the Local Government of Panglao which is prohibited under the Constitution.
In the administrative complaint filed also by Cloribel, the Ombudsman ordered her dismissal, perpetual disqualification to hold public office and forfeiture of all her benefits after originally suspending her for three months without pay.
But the Court of Appeals (CA) Special Twelfth Division set aside her dismissal order and reinstated the original order of suspension by the Ombudsman.
A bemused Fuertes asked Montero the response of Ano to her letter which she reportedly replied that the decision of the Court of Appeals (CA) setting aside her dismissal order and reinstating her original decision suspending her for three months without pay was the basis for her intent to reassume her position.
Montero also spoke before her former colleagues at the SB and informed them of her intent to reassume her position as mayor citing section 12 Rule 43 of the Revised Rules of Court stating that an appeal shall not stay the award, judgment, final order or resolution to be reviewed unless the CA shall direct otherwise upon such terms as it may deem just.
WHEELS OF JUSTICE
The Chronicle learned that the CA Special 12th Division ordered Augustin Cloribel on August 1, 2018, to reply to the urgent motion for clarification and/or reconsideration filed by Montero.
Montero sought clarification on the decision of the CA on June 28, 2018, which she omitted to mention in her letter to Secretary Ano and did not mention a motion for reconsideration filed by Cloribel.
The CA, according to legal sources having knowledge of the case has yet to act on the MR filed by Cloribel and the urgent motion of Montero for clarificatio