LUCENA CITY, Quezon, Philippines — Some 4,000 supporters of Lucena City Mayor Barbara Ruby Talaga staged a multi-sectoral prayer rally in front of the city hall here the other night, seeking to keep the embattled local chief executive in power.

The prayer rally lasted more than two hours and the crowd voluntarily dispersed after airing their sentiments of support for their mayor.

It will be recalled that the Commission on Elections (Comelec) issued last May 20 a resolution ordering Talaga to cease and desist from discharging the functions of the office of the mayor.

Talaga was the subject of a petition by Liberal Party candidates – Philip Castillo and Rhoderic Alcala – who questioned the legality of her running in the last May elections as a substitute candidate to her husband former Mayor Ramon Talaga, who was disqualified earlier by the Comelec.

Appealing for impartiality by the Supreme Court (SC), the rallyists who included 20 barangay chairmen sought the granting of a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) on the Comelec en banc resolution ordering Talaga to vacate the post of mayor.