Cuerpo defies deadline to vacate Rizal town hall

MANILA, Philippines - The 10 a.m. deadline set for suspended Rodriguez, Rizal Mayor Pedro Cuerpo has expired but the defiant official has chosen to remain holed up inside his office at the municipal hall Thursday morning. A GMA Flash Report said that Cuerpo, who was suspended over the recent dispute on landfill operations in Rodriguez, refused to leave his office and carried on with his office's daily operations. Cuerpo was quoted by the report as saying that abandoning his office and his post would only mean that he is already giving up on his constituents. For his part, Acting Mayor Jonas Cruz, who earlier released a memorandum order for Cuerpo and even set the 10 a.m. deadline, said he would just be resorting to legal remedies to avert any scuffle. Cruz still stays at the Vice Mayor's Office at the Rodriguez Municipal Hall, the report added. Meanwhile, The television report quoted supporters of Cuerpo as already asking Malacañang to intervene and settle the dispute once and for all. Anti-riot personnel from the Rizal provincial police and the Rodriguez municipal government stood their ground to prevent tension from rising. As of posting time, the same television report said that supporters of Cuerpo continue to trickle in the area as those who have trooped to the municipal hall as early as Wednesday night insisted on staying. Cuerpo's supporters said they would only disperse upon orders of the suspended mayor himself or of officials from the Interior and Local Government department. Earlier in the day, cops arrived to maintain peace and order amid the tension prevailing in the area. - Mark Merueñas, GMANews.TV