Malacanang has up to Feb 13 to suspend Espino

By MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA

 To Board Member wannabe Teri Sison: Has the pressure of the 2013 poll has taken a toll on your patience (a virtue) already? Your rash of accusing me in your text messages of destroying your candidacy to Mangaldan Mayor Hermie Romero (Sison’s rival for the BM’s post) was so un- statesman.
. I don’t even talked a tinge about you when I interviewed Romero (who suffered from cardiac arrest in December 23 and died not because I interviewed him but when he spoke at a sortie in San Fabian)” for news.
 What I discussed with Romero was how his rivals BM Mojamito Libunao and former Vice Mayor Liberato Villegas Jr., who are with the big league, fare in the provincial board race in the fourth district. The last time I gave my attention about you was when I interviewed you, for old times sake, because you were with Manaoag mayoralty bet Ming Rosario who asked me to accompany him when he filed his candidacy last October. But I regret about it because after I selflessly spent time and effort writing about you in my blog (Pangasinan News! with 5000 and growing hits or read a week) you did not even answer my text message to thank me when I informed you that your self-serving story has been posted already..
Then there you were last week accusing me of undermining you. Wag naman Teri my friend. Voters would not like a candidate who easily jumps with guns blazing into conclusion without verifying first the truth of the matter.
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Here is my two-cent worth of opinion in case Pangasinan Governor Amado T. Espino be given a preventive suspension (PS) by the Office of the President in Malacanang Palace for an administrative case of "grave misconduct" in relation to the criminal plunder case filed by Bugallon Mayor Ric Orduna at the Ombudsman. The official can be suspended preventively anytime after the issues (complaint that includes testimonial and documentary evidences) are joined, when the evidence of guilt is strong, and given the gravity of the offense, there is great probability that the continuance in office of the respondent could influence the witness or pose a threat to the safety and integrity of the records and other evidence (Sec. 63 (b), R.A No.7160).
With out all the considerations Espino could not be removed even temporarily from his post. In case an official has been meted a 60 –day PS for a single case or a 90-day PS as maximum for multiple administrative complaints he would be reinstated in his post 90 days prior to a local election.
So if the opponents  of Espino are really after his scalp,  the law give them up to February 13, 2013 or 90 days before the May 13, 2013 poll before they could be shouted by the Comelec guys and supporters of Espino with "estoppel!".
(You can read my selected thought-provoking columns athttp://mortzortigoza.blogspot.com. and articles at Pangasinan News Aro. You can send comments too at totomortz@yahoo.com)