Escalante Mayor Melecio Yap Saturday questioned the order of the National Police Commission to suspend his administrative and operational control over the Escalante City police station, and said he was not accorded the “right of due process”.

In a resolution dated July 15, the National Police Commission headed by Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo, suspended the administrative and operational control of Yap over the police, citing numerous extra-judicial killings in Escalante City, and his alleged close association with the New People’s Army.

Yap said he had not been formally informed of the complaints, and was never given time to defend himself.

Negros Occidental officials have jointly asked the Court of Appeals to dissolve a temporary retraining order it issued against them, saying a delay in the sale and lease of the Capitol’s 7.7 hectare property in Bacolod City to AyalaLand would deprive it of P3,575,846,909.25 for developmental projects in the countryside.

Gov. Alfredo Marañon Jr. and members of the Committee on Awards and Disposal of Real Properties and the Sangguniang Panlalawigan in their joint comments filed late last week also asked the CA to deny the prayer of SM Prime Holdings Inc., which sought the TRO, for the issuance of a writ of preliminary injunction against them.

They also asked the CA to dismiss SMPHI’s petition for certiorari for utter lack of merit and to award damages to them for the firm’s action, Assistant Provincial Legal Officer Mary Ann Manayon-Lamis said yesterday.

Three were killed in road accidents in the cities of Bacolod and Bago and in Candoni town, Negros Occidental yesterday and Friday, the police said yesterday.

The fatalities were identified as Girlie Garrucho, 15,