Hope for Iligan

Iligan had been a peaceful place for a very long time but its placidity
was destroyed overnight after that fateful day when Congressman Vicente F.
Belmonte was ambushed in a broad daylight while he and his aides were on
his way home to Iligan City from Laguindingan Airport. Luckily the
congressman survived the ambush with only a minor gunshot wound on his
legs. However, luck was not on the sides of his driver and PNP bodyguard
who died instantly on the crime scene.
The next thing that took place was a total chaos. Congressman Varf
Belmonte accused Iligan City Mayor Celso Regencia as the mastermind of
the crime. The latter denied the accusation saying that he had nothing to do
with it. However, a warrant of arrest was served to the mayor when a certain
Dominador Tumala was arrested near the vicinity of the crime area who
confirmed that ,indeed, Mayor Regencia was the master mind. Majority of
the people of Iligan City reacted negatively to the issue saying that Mayor
Regencia was innocent and the said ambush was only another hare-brained
scheme of Congressman Belmonte to stay in power even branding it
ambush me. The Congressmans side retaliated by saying that they could
not do such thing as sacrificing lives just for the table to turn in favor of
them. He also accused Mayor Regencia as the one responsible for the
liquidation of drug pushers in Iligan City.
Mayor Regencia became a fugitive for a while after his warrant of
arrest was issued. The citys peace and order was once again breached as
the war between the supporters of both parties continued. These supporters
dont only bicker in the streets but they also resorted to airing their views in
the social media like Facebook. If you follow their trending posts, you would
surely have a hard time knowing whos telling the truth or worst you will end
up hemorrhaging on your seat if you happen to be a supporter of one of the
bickering parties after reading all those rubbish thrown against your party.
Media became the channel of distorted truths and biases and the fugitive
mayor surrendered to authorities who extended favor on his planned
captivity. Iligan City remained in the state of chaos and ill-governance ruled
by an office in-charge instead in the care of the Vice-Mayor as stated in the
law. I wailed silently.
As an ordinary citizen, I am powerless so all I can offer are prayers and
my call for peace. All these troubles thwarted our citys progress. We now
lagged behind with our neighboring cities. I wonder when all of these

hullaballoos going to end. Im so tired of seeing rallies on the street. Im so

tired of hearing radio announcers attacking personalities. Im so tired of
reading posts in Iligan City Water Falls which focus mostly on character
assassinations and nonsense gibberish. Sometimes, I begin to wonder
whether our lawmakers are right all along in giving us the freedom of
speech. It seems that people is already abusing it most especially the
journalists. They are supposed to be harbinger of truth but what they are
doing now is confused and pollute the minds of the people. And sad to say,
this is happening in Iligan City right now. As long as these kind of people will
continue with their deeds, then there would be no hope for Iligan.Quo vadis,
Iligan.

During Mayor Regencias absence, Iligan City ended up not having a

mayor so Vice Mayor Marzo served as the acting mayor again which caused
another major stir in the city. Once again, Mayors Regencias supporters
picketed in city hall preventing Vice Mayor Marzo from performing executive
duties such as releasing the employees salaries, issuing memos and
executive orders, and etc. Aside from barricading the city hall, Mayor
Regencias supporters also conducted some rallies which they dubbed as
People Power insisting Mayor Regencia is innocent. However, Congressman
Belmontes camp was not moved and even accused Mayor Regencia of
paying and picking up people from other places to participate in the rallies.

Thought everything will be back into normalcy after Mayor Regencia finally
surrendered to the Regional Trial Court, Branch 4 to face the charges against
him and also to file his certificate of candidacy for this coming May 2016
election. After his surrender, Mayor Regencia was restored back as the Iligan
City mayor after the court ruled that he was still the mayor of Iligan City
since he was not still proven guilty. Vice Mayor Marzo at first resisted but was
not able to do anything but obey the order of the court. For a while, there
was a lull in chaos in Iligan City not until an order from the court came out
last March 2, ordering the transfer of Mayor Regencia to Initao Provincial Jail.
Once again, the people was in pandemonium. Another rallies were staged in
Iligan City Jail in Tipanoy this time to prevent the transfer of Mayor Regencia.
The people were said to have lay down on the streets just to ensure that no
vehicles would be able to pass that might be used to transport Regencia.
Observers couldnt believe what they had witnessed. They couldnt believe
that Iliganons could this be this passionate in supporting their leader.
To really prevent the transfer of Mayor Regencia, Atty. Leo Zaragoza,
sought a certification from Initao Provincial Jail stating that their jail has
already reached its maximum capacity of the number of prisoners that it can
accommodate and that their facilities dont have the capacity of holding
high-profile prisoner such as Mayor Regencia. This letter had temporarily
restraint the transfer of Mayor Regencia. Peace once again reigns in the city
but I dont know for how long. As an ordinary citizen, I am powerless so all I
can offer are prayers and my call for peace. All these troubles thwarted our
citys progress. We now lagged behind with our neighboring cities. I wonder
when all of these hullaballoos going to end. Im so tired of seeing rallies on
the street. Im so tired of hearing radio announcers attacking personalities.
Im so tired of reading posts in Iligan City Water Falls which focus mostly on
character assassinations and nonsense gibberish. Sometimes, I begin to
wonder whether our lawmakers are right all along in giving us the freedom of
speech. It seems that people is already abusing it most especially the
journalists. They are supposed to be harbinger of truth but what they are
doing now is confused and pollute the minds of the people. And sad to say,
this is happening in Iligan City right now. As long as these kind of people will
continue with their deeds, then there would be no hope for Iligan.