Town mayor in Cagayan suspended anew

TUGUEGARAO, Philippines – A mayor from the northern province of Cagayan continue to get flack from his political rivals after being suspended from his office twice in a row.. On top of a previous preventive suspension slapped on him last March 3, Mayor Ignacio Taruc of Buguey town was reportedly suspended anew for six months by the Sangguniang Panlalawigan or Provincial Board on Monday. The first suspension stemmed from an administrative case filed by Buguey Vice Mayor Licerio Antiporda III, an ally of Gov. Alvaro Antonio, for grave misconduct, oppression and grave abuse of authority. Taruc has earlier claimed that the suspensions were mere harassments from his political foes who he alleged to have their eyes set on the “illegal" mining industry in his hometown, which he had fiercely opposed. Before his first suspension, the embattled mayor was earlier accused by Gov. Antonio of inciting residents and Church people to protest at the capitol grounds against his purportedly questionable issuance of permits to foreign and local mining companies. The mayor’s daughter, the town’s Sangguniang Kabataan chairman (SK), was also of late the subject of an ouster moves by her colleagues who were apparently backed by Antiporda. The Provincial Board’s four against six votes in favor of a second suspension by the majority bloc, was allegedly due to Taruc’s “illegal" suspension of one of his vice mayor’s staff. - GMANews.TV