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BY GLENDA SOLOGASTOA
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Saturday, February 4, 2017
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ILOILO – Provincial Board member Liecel Seville and husband Rico were facing charges in connection with a confrontation with Mayor Christian Sorongon at the New Lucena municipal hall in August last year.
Retired provincial prosecutor Irene Panigbatan filed on behalf of Sorongon usurpation of official function and qualified direct assault charges against the Sevilla couple at the Provincial Prosecutor’s Office.
Panigbatan said the usurpation of official function charge was for Rico’s searching of two job hire workers — retired Master Sergeant Rolando Bordon and Master Sergeant Mario Tambangan — without legal authority.
The couple also entered Sorongon’s office and caused a commotion; hence, the qualified direct assault charge, she said.
“Kon ang isa ka public officer gin-attack by another public officer, qualified nâ as direct assault, kag included na dira ang iya bana…may conspiracy,” Panigbatan told Radyo ng Bayan. “Una naggamo didto ang iya bana, followed by Board member Seville.”
The lawyer filed the charges on Thursday.
On Aug. 10, 2016 Seville and husband Rico entered Sorongon’s office at the municipal hall and searched and shouted at his bodyguard Bordon, the mayor said.
A video of the incident had been uploaded on Facebook.
Seville, former mayor of New Lucena, belittled the charges filed against her and her husband.
“Kon ako maglantaw, wala bug-at ang gin-file niya nga kaso,” she told Panay News. “Paano ya da i-twist ang facts? Para sa akon, nag-file lang na sia to save his face. Daw balos bala kay gin-file-an ko sia sa Ombudsman.”
Last year Seville hauled Sorongon to the Office of the Ombudsman, also in connection with the municipal hall incident. She accused the mayor of malversation of property, a criminal charge, and grave misconduct, an administrative charge.
Seville had also asked the Iloilo Police Provincial Office (IPPO) to investigate the incident. She claimed Sorongon was not authorized to issue a mission order, or an authority to carry a firearm for a specific purpose/mission.
After the probe, IPPO director Senior Superintendent Roderick Augustus Alba said Sorongon was “liable for the illegal use of firearm by issuing an authority through mission order to his job hire/bodyguard.”
Seville ran for a Sangguniang Panlalawigan seat in the May 2016 election after completing her third and final term as mayor. Meanwhile, her husband Rico ran for mayor, but Sorongon defeated him./PN
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