DILG chief gives top Urdaneta execs 10 days to step down
BAGUIO CITY—Interior and Local Government Secretary Jonvic Remulla has given Urdaneta City Mayor Julio Parayno III and his nephew, Vice Mayor Jimmy Parayno, 10 days to comply with their suspension, which was issued early last month.
Remulla, who issued the statement during a brief news conference on Wednesday, was in Baguio to meet with officials and barangay leaders of Baguio and Benguet ahead of the midterm elections on May 12.
When asked about the fate of the Paraynos, Remulla said: “I give them 10 days [from Wednesday].”
The officials were suspended for 12 months in a Jan. 3 order by Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, after they were found administratively liable for grave misconduct and abuse of authority over the removal of the president of the Liga ng mga Barangay from the city council in 2022.
However, the Paraynos have not stepped down, prompting the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to issue them an ultimatum last week.
Mayor Parayno insisted that he was not properly served his suspension order on Jan. 7, as he was on an official leave of absence at the time. He also argued that he should have been spared since the midterm election season had already begun.
Since no employee was willing to receive the suspension order on his behalf, the DILG said it posted the order on the office doors of both the mayor and vice mayor.
Comelec letter
On his social media page, Mayor Parayno posted a Feb. 4 letter he received from the Commission on Elections (Comelec), which indicated that the poll body had not received any application for a “request for authority” from Malacañang.
According to Comelec, “No public official shall, except upon prior written approval of the Commission, suspend any elective provincial, city, municipal, or barangay officer…from Jan. 12, 2025, to June 11, 2025,” the mayor’s post said.
What is prohibited, according to the mayor, is the act of carrying out a suspension order during the election ban without prior approval from the commission.
“Hence, it is not the decision of the suspension itself that is prohibited, but rather the implementation of it without prior approval of the commission,” the letter said, as quoted by Mayor Parayno.
The letter was in response to the mayor’s query about his rights during the election season.
While the decision handed down by the Office of the President is final and executory, Mayor Parayno said they have the legal remedy of appealing the decision before the Court of Appeals.
In a press conference at the Camp John Hay on Wednesday, Remulla emphasized that he had never tolerated “malfeasance” while serving as governor of Cavite until last year when he was appointed by President Marcos to lead the DILG.
The secretary said he was in Baguio to discuss vote-buying and other poll-related violations, which his agency intended to curb.
Remulla also addressed the government’s crackdown on private armed groups and militias that become active during elections. He said the DILG was particularly focused on preventing election-related violence in Abra province, Ormoc City and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
