THE recall elections in Puerto Princesa City is set to pave the way for the return of its former mayor, Edward Hagedorn.
Hagedorn’s bid to return to city hall through a recall election would be the second time that a Puerto Princesa City mayor had been recalled by the electorate.
The first recall election in the country was held in that city in 2002 which resulted in then-Mayor Dennis Socrates, now congressman of the city’s Lone District, being unseated by Hagedorn.
This time the subject of the recall election is Mayor Lucilo Bayron, who has been accused by the Yes to Recall Movement of failing to address the resurgence of criminality in the city.
The group that sought Bayron’s recall said that during Bayron’s term, illegal activities, such as illegal drug distribution and abuse, gambling and other heinous crimes, have become rampant. It added that there was also a slump in tourism revenues which caused closure of tourism-related businesses; unemployment and rampant violations of environmental-protection laws.
On the other hand, Hagedorn is undefeated in the mayoral elections in this city. He is banking on his performance as city mayor which started in 1992.
It was during Hagedorn’s tenure as mayor when the town of Puerto Princesa, known from the 1960s to the 1980s as the “forgotten and feared Wild West” of the country because of neglect by the national government and
lawlessness, emerged to become one of the nations’ most progressive and dynamic local government and international tourist destination.
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has set the conduct of the recall elections on May 8, a day before the one-year prohibition takes effect.
Section 74 of the Local Government Code provides that “no recall shall take place within one-year immediately preceding a regular local election.” The next national and local election is scheduled on May 9, 2016.
The Comelec had declared that there was a sufficient number of valid signatures in the recall petition filed against Bayron.
This after 22,326 signatures of petitioners were found as being valid out of the 32,418 signatures verified. The recall petition was initiated by Alroben Goh, a former city information officer of Puerto Princesa and ally of Hagedorn.
Goh claimed that Bayron has lost the trust and confidence of the people owig to his “gross violation” of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act and the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials, incompetence, dereliction of duty, emotional immaturity, and intellectual dishonesty.
1 comment
The only criminality occurring in Puerto Princesa seems to lie at the doorstep of the Hagedorn dynasty as a convicted drug has now named the former mayor and his congressman brother for their involvement in the drug trade.
Your reporting is extremely bias. Definitely it lacks journalistic prudence.