Legazpi City—Vice Mayor Victor Perete is now acting mayor of Daraga town after Mayor Carlwyn Baldo’s arrest on charges of illegal possession of firearms, a ranking official of the Department of the Interior and Local Government in Bicol said late Friday.
DILG Region 5 director Anthony Nuyda served the order to Perete during a meeting at the regional DILG office here at about 6 p.m., upon the order of the Commission on Elections 5 in Bicol to carry out the rule of succession in the town.
“Considering the temporary incapacity of Mayor Baldo, Hon. Victor U. Perete, vice mayor of Daraga, shall then assume as acting mayor who will be performing executive functions,” Comelec-5 Director Maria Juana Valeza said in a letter to Nuyda.
The Comelec also ordered the DILG to monitor and implement the directive and submit a report within 48 hours.
Both Baldo—the prime suspect in the murder of Ako Bicol party-list Rep. Rodel Batocabe—and Perete are running for town mayor in the May elections.
Baldo was apprehended Tuesday for illegal possession of firearms but was rushed to the hospital reportedly due to asthma shortly after his arrest.
The suspended mayor is accused of being the brains behind the fatal shooting of Batocabe and his security aide, SPO2 Orlino Diaz, last Dec. 23 during a gift-giving activity.