MALOLOS CITY --  Bulacan Gov. Roberto "Obet" Pagdanganan assailed Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronaldo Puno for delaying the implementation of an order booting out Gov. Joselito "Jonjon" Mendoza from the Capitol.
But the Department of the Interior and Local Government on Tuesday said it will await the Supreme Court decision on a pending motion for temporary restraining order stopping the Commission on Elections from removing Mendoza from his post.

In a press conference, DILG Secretary Ronaldo Puno said the Comelec has already issued a final decision on the matter when it issued a writ of execution removing Mendoza and installing Pagdanganan as the new Bulacan governor.

"If by today, our department will not receive any TRO or any injunction, then the order will need to be implemented. We will wait for the Supreme Court deliberation and the decision. After this, the enforcement mechanisms will come into place. If at the close of business hours there is no order, then we will implement the Comelec order," he said at a press conference.

Puno called on both parties to await the final decision of the Supreme Court and follow the decision of the authorities.

Mendoza's lawyer, Sixto Brillantes, earlier asked the Supreme Court to issue a TRO blocking the implementation of the Comelec writ installing Pagdanganan as the new governor.

Brillantes noted several defects in the writ of execution, including the lack of an order from the Comelec 2^nd Division denying the motion for reconsideration of Mendoza and the lack of order from the 2^nd Division granting the motion for writ of execution.

The Comelec electoral contest and adjudication department issued Friday its writ of execution on the en banc's decision declaring Pagdanganan as the winner of the 2007 gubernatorial contest in Bulacan.

The poll body on Thursday junked Mendoza's motion for reconsideration, which seeks to overturn the 2^nd Division's decision declaring Pagdanganan as the true winner of the Bulacan gubernatorial race.

The Comelec en banc said the 2^nd Division's decision stands after Mendoza's motion for reconsideration did not receive the majority of four votes.