The Regional Trial Court has denied the motion of acting PBMs recommended for appointment by Gov. Patrick Alain Azanza that the proceedings in the quo warranto case be deferred until their affirmative defenses are resolved.
In the motion, the respondents – PBMs Aida Dianela, Joy Tamayo, Virginia Sanchez, Gil Alintana, and Adrian Torcelino – content that the petition should be dismissed because the petitioners – Leo Mendoza, Ronaldo Tivar and Rodrigo Turado – do not have legal capacity to institute the action and that the petition failed to state a cause of action.
For their part, the petitioners claim that being bona fide members of Lakas-CMD, they are entitled to representation in the Sangguniang Panlalawigan under existing rules.
In denying the respondents’ motion, RTC Branch 42 Presiding Judge Maria Theresa A. Cerillo stated that while the petitioners’ alleged Lakas-CMD membership does not automatically establish their right to occupy the contested positions, their allegations – including the claim that the respondents’ designations violated legal and administrative requirements – are sufficient to present “a justiciable controversy.”
As to the alleged failure of the petition to state a cause of action, the Court notes that the allegations of the petitioners may support a quo warranto action if established by evidence and thus holds that it sufficiently identifies the right asserted by the petitioners, the corresponding limitation allegedly violated by respondents, and the wrongful act complained of.
It emphasized that the sufficiency of the petition does not amount to a finding that petitioners are in fact entitled to the positions; nor does it constitute a ruling that respondents’ designation orders are invalid.
“These matters concern the merits and must be resolved after the parties have presented their evidence,” Judge Cerillo stressed.
In the resumption of the hearings on the quo warranto petition, Cavinitan barangay captain William San Juan reportedly testified on the allegation that Acting PBM Alintana was still a member of the barangay council at the time of his appointment by the Department of the Interior and Local Government.
Along with the Acting PBMs themselves, the other key witnesses are DILG Regional Director Atty. Arnaldo Escober Jr., Provincial Director Uldarico Razal Jr. and former Gov. Joseph Cua who remains Lakas-CMD provincial chairman.
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This writer and the Catanduanes Colleges High School Batch 1979 are mourning the loss of one of their members, Engr. Edmund Bernal Talaran, who succumbed to a lingering illness last week.
Out of the class of about 63, the two of us were the only ones to take up civil engineering and initially enter the local construction industry.
He eventually ventured on his own and became a contractor while I went into public service as the first municipal engineer of Virac.
Right after we graduated from college (he was at Adamson while I was at MIT), we and Matthew Morales were almost inseparable.
This ended only after each of us got married but the close relationship remained.
Edmund, known to family and friends as “Bobom,” last attended a gathering of several members of CC Batch 79 last December 2025,
He will be missed, especially by recipients of his good natured ribbing and jokes. He would have turned 64 on October 12, 2026.
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October 15 was the first death anniversary of Mama Zune Arcilla Hianan, who died at 96 last year.
We ask our dear readers, relatives and friends to pray for the eternal repose of her soul.
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AT THE SEA OF GALILEE. Mr. Johns from the USA goes to Israel to visit all the holy places there.
On his tour, he came by the Sea of Galilee and saw a man on a small boat with a sign: “Sea of Galilee Tours.”
He asked the man, “How much for a tour?”
The man said, “Three hundred and eighty shekels.”
“What? Why so much?”
“Well, sir,” said the man, “you know that the Lord Jesus walked on these waters.”
“Yeah,” said Mr. Johns, “with prices like that, I’m not bloody surprised.”