MAGALANG, Pampanga—This second-class town has two mayors.

This, as Romy Pecson, a businessman, assumed the mayoral post Tuesday while unseated Mayor Lyndon Cunanan, who remains in office, claimed that “business is as usual at the town hall” with him as the local chief executive.

This developed after Judge Irin Zenaida Buan of Branch 56 of the Regional Trial Court in Angeles City ruled Monday that Pecson was the duly elected mayor of this town.

Buan said in her order that in view of the expiration of the temporary restraining order (TRO) issued by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on March 4, the Comelec’s dismissal of Cunanan’s petition for certiorari on March 6 and in the absence of a writ of preliminary injunction from the Comelec, Pecson should be allowed to assume the mayoral post.

Thus, Buan issued a writ of execution declaring as null and void the proclamation of Cunanan by the Municipal Board of Canvassers on May 17, 2007.

The judge ordered Cunanan to vacate his position as the town’s mayor and to “cease and desist from further discharging the duties and functions officially vested in the Office of the Municipal Mayor of Magalang.”

Upon the issuance of the writ Tuesday, Pecson was sworn to office by Judge Magdalena Balderama of the Mabalacat-Magalang Municipal Circuit Trial Court.

Tension gripped the town as thousands of supporters of both Pecson and Cunanan took to the town-hall grounds, prompting Cunanan and his staff to lock themselves up in the mayor’s office.

Other supporters of Cunanan locked the main door of the town hall.

Pecson and his staff, on the other hand, passed through the backdoor and set office at the working area of the town’s civil registrar on the ground floor of the town hall.

Cunanan, who refused to step down, said the lower court has no jurisdiction over the case and that he is only bound to obey the orders of the Comelec or the Department of the Interior and Local Governments (DILG).

In the same order, Buan directed the DILG provincial director, the municipal Comelec officer and the chief of police of this town “to render their assistance in the enforcement-implementation of the writ of execution.”

Pecson appealed to Cunanan to respect the rule of law and to vacate the post peacefully. However, Cunanan said he cannot honor the authority of the sheriff who served the writ of execution on the ground that the latter was allegedly suspended by the Supreme Court.

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OLONGAPO CITY—Four persons, including a magazine model and Viva Films contract star, were found dead in a burned apartment here at dawn Thursday.

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MAGALANG, Pampanga—This second-class town has two mayors.

This, as Romy Pecson, a businessman, assumed the mayoral post Tuesday while unseated Mayor Lyndon Cunanan, who remains in office, claimed that “business is as usual at the town hall” with him as the local chief executive.

THE National Police recovered 19 stolen vehicles in a series of operations in Mindanao, and uncovered in the process the operation of a carjacking syndicate operating in Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao.