Residents of Barangay San Antonio in San Pedro City are now caught in a tug-of-war for power inside the local political scene. Suspended captain Eugenio “Jun” Ynion, Jr. refuses to honor the six month-suspension given to him by the city government, effectively grounding local governance to a halt.
Residents of Barangay San Antonio in San Pedro City in Laguna have long accepted that local politics will always be heated in the run-up to the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections.
Now, as barangay elections are finally scheduled to be held in October after repeated postponements, it’s clear that this year’s elections in San Pedro City’s largest barangay will be a bitterly-contested one.
This, as Barangay Captain Eugenio “Jun” Ynion, Jr., who has been in office since 2013 – and is currently suspended for six months following an order by the local government of San Pedro City – has refused to honor the suspension, citing what he called a series of “harassment” against him allegedly perpetuated by the leading political families of San Pedro City.
Suspension
To recall, Ynion was suspended for six months by the Sangguniang Panglungsod of San Pedro last May 30 following his alleged failure to comply with administrative rules.
In a ten-page decision, the city council found him “administratively liable” of at least five counts of misconduct in office and abuse of authority in failing to submit copies of Barangay San Antonio’s budget before the City Budget Office from 2015 to 2019.
Aside from this, the SP also found the captain “administratively liable” of misconduct in office in appointing Patricia Jimenez as Barangay Secretary in 2020 without the concurrence of the members of the Sangguniang Barangay.
Response
In response to the order, Ynion has sent a letter of explanation to the regional office of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) on August 3, in which he insisted that the Sangguniang Panglungsod order was "void and therefore unenforceable."
Ynion used the current issue hounding the Sangguniang Panglungsod regarding the alleged refusal of the city government to let Councilors Iryne Vierneza and Marion Acierto to take their seats as his main argument against the legality of the suspension order.
"I request the DILG to immediately stop the unlawfully constituted Sangguniang Panglungsod from performing its functions and to hold the said city officials accountable for their unlawful acts and gross insubordination," he requested in his letter which was also posted in his social media page.
And on July 28, Ynion had also filed a case at the Office of the Ombudsman against Mayor Art Mercado, Vice Mayor Ina Olivarez, and all (except one) members of the Sangguniang Panglungsod regarding the Vierneza-Acierto case.
Unpaid salaries
Meanwhile, signs that all are “not well” with the barangay government of San Antonio were made evident by Ynion’s social media post last August 9.
In that post, he promised to fix the alleged "panggigipit" of the city government under Mayor Art Mercado that has allegedly caused some programs of the barangay to be put on hold.
There were also reports circulating in social media that some barangay employees have not received their salaries, an issue that Ynion and his supporters tried to blame on the city government.
However, a source close to the Sangguniang Panglungsod claimed that Ynion alone was responsible for the non-payment of the salaries of Barangay San Antonio’s employees.
According to that source, who requested not to be identified, the captain’s suspension (and his refusal to honor that suspension) meant that no one could sign pertinent documents regarding the barangay’s budget, causing it to be “frozen.”
“Sa totoo lang po, sila-sila rin po ang dahilan kung bakit sila nagkakagulo diyan sa San Antonio,” the source said. “Kung tinanggap lang po ni Ynion ang pagkakasuspinde sa kanya, mayroon nang pipirma sa budget ng barangay at hindi na po mapapahirapan pa ang kanyang constituents.”
As of press time, OpinYon Laguna has tried to reach out to the local office of the DILG for an explanation of the proper protocols for the issue.
Grudge against city officials
It’s not the first time Ynion has alleged that some political factions in San Pedro City are out to get him.
In his years as captain, Ynion had presented himself as a “gamechanger,” a breath of fresh air in a local political scene that has been dominated by a few families – the same factor that reportedly earned Mercado his victory in the 2022 elections. (He even challenged former Mayor Lourdes Cataquiz in the 2016 mayoralty elections but was defeated.)
However, in recent years, Ynion has been increasingly vocal in his attacks against what he perceived was harassment against him (and, according to him, his constituents at Barangay San Antonio).
During the 2022 elections – two years after the administrative cases that led to his suspension were filed – he reportedly exhorted his supporters not to vote for all but one of the candidates fielded by both Mercado and his rival, former city councilor Aaron Cataquiz.
And last August 6, he accused Mercado in social media of deliberately "withholding" the barangay's budget for social services and using his position as mayor to endorse Edel Aguilar, who is now confirmed to be running against Ynion in the upcoming barangay elections.
One source who was close to the issue have expressed their belief that Ynion should probably look at the mirror to see who’s the real “maramot” in the situation plaguing Barangay San Antonio.
“Sa palagay po namin, sariling interes na lamang po niya ang iniisip at hindi na ang kapakanan ng kanyang mga dapat ay pinaglilingkuran sa Barangay San Antonio,” the source, who preferred not to have their identities revealed, told OpinYon Laguna.
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