LMP-Bohol Chapter court stops new election for president

TAGBILARAN CITY, Philippines — The scheduled new election this week for a new president of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP)-Bohol chapter, which ended in a deadlock in the August 19 poll, has been stopped by the court.

Judge Marivic Daray, of the Regional Trial Court-Branch 52 in Talibon town, has issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) against the LMP-Bohol, stopping the organization from holding the slated second election of officers or only the presidency, according to  Bien-Unido town Mayor Nino Rey Boniel in an exclusive interview Friday.

Boniel, who was contender for the presidency against Inabanga town Mayor Josephine Socorro Jumamoy, said that his group of mayors presented the TRO to the LMP meeting, after securing it from Judge Daray.

Some 30 mayors present during the meeting on Friday at Bohol Tropics Resort said they could not do anything but to follow the court order. The meeting was adjourned and they all went home, said Boniel.

The meeting was intended for the holding of the "second election," which was called and presided over by former mayor Roberto Cajes of Trinidad town, who was reportedly authorized by the LMP national directorate.

Cajes' wife, the incumbent Mayor Judith Cajes, was also present during the meeting, Boniel told The Freeman.

The scenario of the Friday meeting was confirmed by Alburquerque town Mayor Efren Tungol, who was supposedly the interim president, based on what many believed as the rule of succession.

Tungol was the one who convened the first election last August 19 when Boniel and Jumamoy ended in a tie for the presidency. Each of the two got 22 votes from out of the 46 mayors present at the time.

There are 47 town mayors in Bohol, but Bilar town Mayor Norman Palacio was abroad in the U.S. by then. He was represented by his Vice Mayor Dodong Calamba, who was however "booted out" when voting came because he was disqualified to cast a vote, based on the LMP's rules and regulations.

Two of the 46 mayors present, who remain unidentified, deliberately invalidated their votes, according to sources. One of them left the space for president blank, while the other wrote the name Imboy (referring to Loay Mayor Rosemarie Lim-Imboy), who was not a candidate for president.

The tie prompted Jumamoy and Loon town Mayor Lloyd Lopez-who was elected executive vice-president during that election-to file a petition before the LMP's national directorate to invalidate the election. This petition was eventually granted paving the way for the schedule of a second election, supposedly last Sept. 27.

Prior to vote counting on the first election, both camps of Boniel and Jumamoy tried to outsmart each other with the latter heavily relying on the support of the Liberal Party, but fell short of the expected number of 30 or more mayors.

The camp of Boniel-believed to depend more on the backing of the defeated bet for governor in the May polls-tried but failed to convince Jumamoy to a "power-sharing," not even to a toss-coin to break the impasse.

The LMP-Bohol, as a result, failed to prevent the rise of condemnation and shame from the public who claimed that the mayors' hungry for power turned the organization from apolitical one into a political circus, a former official said.

Boniel said a hearing to tackle the issued TRO is scheduled on Monday (Sept. 30) in Talibon town. (FREEMAN)