ACTING CAPACITY. Vice Mayor-elect Djarma Rafael is told to sit as acting mayor of Paracelis, Mountain Province by the Department of the Interior and Local Government-Cordillera if the Commission on Elections (Comelec) En Banc will not be able to resolve the motion for reconsideration of elected Mayor Avelino Amangyen. The Comelec canceled his certificate of candidacy for material misrepresentation when he failed to declare being convicted of violating the Forestry Code, which was upheld by the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court. (PNA photo by Liza T. Agoot) BAGUIO CITY - The elected vice mayor of Paracelis, Mountain Province has been appointed to sit as acting mayor in case the Commission on Elections (Comelec) En Banc fails to resolve the disqualification case of the winning mayor before the scheduled assumption of office of local officials on June 30. "You, as vice mayor of said municipality, shall assume the Office of the Mayor in an acting capacity without prejudice to the
BAGUIO CITY - The Commission on Elections (Comelec) second division has ordered the cancellation of the certificate of candidacy (COC) of Avelino Amangyen, a mayoralty candidate in Paracelis, Mountain Province for the May 9 election for lying about a conviction in a criminal case. A 13-page decision penned by Comelec division presiding commissioner Marlon Casquejo said "in view of the Respondent's conviction by final judgment of an offense which carried with it the accessory penalty of perpetual absolute disqualification, Respondent is in effect ineligible to run for office pursuant to Section 12 of the OEC (Omnibus Election Code). Such ineligibility, which took effect as soon as the judgment against him attained finality contradicts material representations in his COC." The decision was signed by all three members of the division and promulgated on April 19. A copy of the document was sent to the local media on Thursday. Amangyen was found guilty of the violation of Pres