Abundo's Assumption As Viga Mayor Postponed Anew

This morning, the RTC proceedings on the finality of the November 14 promulgation of RTC decision that gave Abelardo Abundo Sr the post of Viga Mayor after the conclusion of the Petition for Judicial Recount was postponed anew due to the appearance in court of an additional counsel for 'sitting mayor' Jose Torres.

After the conclusion of the roll call of scheduled cases to be heard today, a certain Atty. Bo addressed the presiding judge and manifested his appearance as counsel for Torres showing a SMS message purportedly coming from the latter.

Atty. Bo requested to hold in abeyance the scheduled proceeding as he would like to submit his manifestations on the case and explain other circumstances of his appearance.

A seemingly irritated Judge asked the lawyer if he could not submit his explanation and manifestation at that instant to which the counsel replied that he just arrived this morning and had no time to be appraised of the details of the case.

RTC Judge Agbada, as a matter of course pursuant to Rules of Court, gave them 5 days within which to file the said manifestation. Atty. Bo retorted that 5 days is too short to study the whole case. The Judge stood pat on the 5-day period given despite some objection from Abundo's counsel invoking the Rule 35 Sec 17 of the COMELEC Rules of Procedure.

Some observers commented that the appearance of the new counsel for Torres was clearly a 'delaying tactic' which is a common strategy in court cases resorted to by 'losing' parties in order to postpone or delay the execution of unfavorable decisions from the court.