Sandiganbayan affirms conviction of Iligan City mayor for usurpation (Sabong News)
Author
Czarina Nicole Ong Ki
Date
APRIL 25 2022
The Sandiganbayan has affirmed the conviction of Iligan City Mayor Celso G. Regencia for usurpation of authority or official function.
Regencia was jailed for his alleged involvement in the ambush of former Iligan City Rep. Vicente Belmonte Jr. in 2014.
The anti-graft court convicted Regencia for violation of Article 177 of the Revised Penal Code (usurpation of authority) and was sentenced to a prison term ranging from two months and one day to one year, eight months and 21 days in a decision issued last February.
He was found to have issued directives and memoranda, signed checks and vouchers, and even appointed certain persons to various positions in the city government while in detention in 2015.
The court stressed that detention is among the recognized grounds for a local chief executive’s temporary incapacity.
Regencia filed a motion to reconsider the decision. He claimed he was not informed of any letter from the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) directing him to stop performing his functions as city mayor from Oct. 13 to 30, 2015. When he received the letter on Nov. 4, he said he stopped acting as mayor and asked his staff to vacate city hall.
However, the anti-graft court found no merit in his arguments. It said: “Regencia’s argument stems from the wrong premise that the operative act which rendered him incapacitated to perform the duties of his office is a notice from the DILG to this effect.”
It said the law mandates “automatic” transition of power from the mayor to the vice mayor once the former’s incapacity is established.
“Accordingly, we find nothing in accused Regencia’s motion that compels us to disturb the assailed Decision,” it ruled.
The resolution was written by Associate Justice Zaldy V. Trespeses with the concurrence of Associate Justicea Ma. Theresa Dolores C. Gomez-Estoesta and Georgina D. Hidalgo.
