PNS — Ousted Bulacan Gov. Joselito “Jonjon” Mendoza will remain as Bulacan governor after he was able to get a status quo ante order from the Supreme Court.
The High Tribunal said the status quo order will be for seven days which started yesterday. The court will decide the merits of the case on Tuesday.
“For the time being, Mendoza can still continue sitting as Bulacan governor,” Court Administrator Midas Marquez said in a news briefing.
”The reason for the status quo is because the SC will call the case again on Tuesday so that the tribunal can resume hearing on the merits of the case,” he added.
Marquez said the high court’s objective for another hearing is aimed at securing a definitive ruling on the standoff between Mendoza and former Bulacan Gov. Roberto Pagdangan, who was declared winner in the last provincial gubernatorial race.
The Supreme Court also hopes to defuse the tension between supporters of the warring camps, who have already started massing up at the provincial capitol.
Mendoza on Monday asked the High Tribunal to stop the Commission on Elections from unseating him and to order Pagdanganan to cease and desist from “usurping, assuming, and performing the functions of the contested position.”
He said the challenged Comelec resolutions should be declared null and void having been issued in violation of its own Rules of Procedure which mandates “the concurrence of a majority of the members of the commission” for the pronouncement of a decision, resolution, order or ruling.
Pagdanganan said he respects the High Court’s ruling but urged the tribunal to resolve the issue with dispatch. He asked his supporters to go home.
Mendoza also ordered his supporters to stop their vigil at the provincial capitol so that business operations would return to normal.