MANILA: Alice Guo has been replaced by a councillor as mayor of Bamban town in Tarlac, following her expulsion for alleged links to the Philippine offshore gaming operator (Pogo).
Interior Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr said in an ambush interview on Wednesday (Aug 14)that Erano Timbang will take the post of Guo temporarily, and explained that Bamban Vice Mayor Leonardo Anunciacion, the next in line of succession, was suspended by the Office of the Ombudsman for three months.
The Ombudsman likewise suspended for three months nine other municipal councillors.
“We should follow the succession,” Abalos said, noting that Timbang is next in line after the suspension of the vice mayor and town councillors.
Timbang, the only councillor left in the municipal council, is also the sole councillor who had a “difference of opinion” about the granting of permit to the Pogo in the town, according to Abalos.
“He is the only one who opposed [the Pogo permit], so he was absolved by the Ombudsman,” Abalos said.
The Ombudsman, in a 25-page order released to the media on Tuesday, said Guo was found guilty of grave misconduct, which merited “dismissal from service with forfeiture of all her retirement benefits and perpetual disqualification to re-enter government service.” - Philipppine Daily Inquirer/ANN
