BAGUIO CITY — The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Region I suspended the mayor and vice mayor of Urdaneta, Pangasinan for a total of 12 months or one year.

The order issued by the DILG on 7 January is in accordance with the decision of Executive Secretary Lucas P. Bersamin of the Office of the President (OP) on 3 January ordering the suspension of Urdaneta Mayor Julio F. Parayno III and Vice Mayor Jimmy D. Parayno.

In the decision of the OP, the two officials were found administratively liable for Grave Misconduct and Grave Abuse of Authority.

The decision stemmed from the complaint of barangay captain Michael Brian M. Perez on 28 October 2022 against the mayor and the vice mayor.

On 15 June 2022, Perez was placed under indefinite suspension on the basis of a manifesto seeking his removal from being the president of the Liga ng mga Barangay (LnB) and ex-officio of the Sangguniang Panlungsod of Urdaneta. This prompted him to seek clarification from the national president of the LnB, the provincial board of Pangasinan and the DILG.

Both the LnB and the DILG found the suspension of Perez as erroneous. The LnB still recognized him as the Urdaneta LnB president while the DILG stated that Perez suspension has no legal basis.

Perez alleged that despite the clarifications of the national LnB and DILG, the vice-mayor refused to recognize him as an ex-officio member of Urdaneta SP and refused to allow him to participate in their regular session on 5 October 2022. He also found out that another village captain was voted in place of him.

The SP in a resolution recognized his replacement and the mayor who was present that time insisted he respect the election of his replacement.