Iligan City Mayor Celso Regencia (Facebook photo)
MANILA – The mayor of Iligan City was found guilty of usurpation of public functions by the Sandiganbayan, committed while he was in jail for murder charges.
The anti-graft court’s Seventh Division sentenced Mayor Celso Regencia, 61, to up to 20 months in prison for usurpation of official functions.
In its February 11 decision, the Sandiganbayan said Regencia, among other things, issued directives and memoranda, signed checks and vouchers, and made appointments to various positions in the city government while jailed in Iligan City for murder charges from 2015 to 2017.
Regencia, a former town police chief who is in his third consecutive term as mayor, was suspended in 2015 on multiple murder and frustrated murder charges.
His vice mayor then, Ruderic Marzo, was directed by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to take over.
Former congressman Vicente Belmonte accused Regencia of plotting his slay try near the Laguindingan Airport in Misamis Oriental in December 2014 but the Supreme Court has already dismissed the charges.
Belmonte and Regencia are disputing Iligan’s lone congressional seat in the May 9 elections.
The SC’s 63-page decision turned down Regencia’s argument, saying it was not clear if Marzo, under the DILG issuance, could assume the acting mayor post on the mere basis of his detention.
“The Court disagrees. Explicit in the precise words is that the vice mayor automatically serves as acting mayor, once the incapacity of the mayor has been established,” the decision read. “When the law mandates the vice mayor to automatically exercise the powers and perform the duties and functions of the local chief executive, the incapacitated mayor should also automatically cease to have authority to exercise the powers and functions of mayor.” (PNA)
