Garcia told to produce Palace order

Without a Palace order directing suspended Dumanjug mayor Nelson Garcia to reassume his post, he cannot function as the town’s chief executive.

This is what lawyer Edgar Gica, lawyer and father of acting Mayor Efren Gica, said in a statement dated July 10, 2015.

Gica urged Garcia to “stop entertaining himself” and instead, secure an order directing his reinstatement as municipal mayor and the acting mayor to relinquish his post effective on a certain date.

“Inasmuch as right now he is STILL suspended for six months imposed by the decision of the (Provincial Board) and ordered in writing and enforced by Order of the Governor of Cebu that is expected to expire this month of November yet,” the lawyer wrote.

In May this year, Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III orderd Garcia suspended for six months after the PB found him guilty of grave abuse of authority and grave misconduct.

READ: Suspended Dumanjug mayor cites Malacañang order: I can return now

The PB released its decision last March, finding Garcia liable for the unauthorized appointment of a municipal council secretary in 2013.
Complicate

Garcia recently obtained an order from the Office of the President (OP), signed by lawyer Menardo Guevarra, deputy executive secretary for legal affairs, confirming that his appeal before the Office stays the execution of his suspension.

Banking on this order, Garcia reassumed his post after a 60-day preventive suspension and another two months from his supposed six-month suspension.

The suspended mayor, who transacts in his home, ordered municipal department heads and employees and depository banks not to honor acting Mayor Gica’s signatures.

Lawyer Gica said Garcia is only trying to complicate the situation by issuing the order.