Palawan provincial board suspends town mayor

CAMP VICENTE LIM, Laguna, Philippines  – The Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Palawan suspended the mayor of Narra town on Tuesday.

In an 11-page decision obtained by The STAR, the provincial board said it found sufficient grounds to suspend Gerandy Danao for 60 days in connection with the administrative complaints filed against him.

Virgilio Tagle, Department of the Interior and Local Government-Palawan director, said Vice Mayor Crispin Lumba and Sangguniang Bayan members filed the complaints on May 25 for grave misconduct, gross negligence and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of service.

Danao was accused of issuing a permit to a cockpit without approval from the town council and failure to submit an annual budget in time for the Sangguniang Bayan to act on it.

The mayor decried the allegations as politically motivated. ”Wala naman akong kasalanan. Sa kabila ng mga paghihirap ng lahat ng mga taong nasa paligid natin kaso po pala ang premyo namin,” he said in an interview with local reporters.

Danao lamented that his political rivals filed the complaints at the time when they should be working together to address the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.

Danao, a former farmer, ended the 30-year rule of the Demaala political clan in Narra in the 2019 elections.