Manila, Feb. 17. cath of office in the clenched right fist—Dr. Casto Alejandrino, mayor of Arayat, Pampanga, has been charged with disloyalty to the Philippines Government.
The Supreme Court may be asked to issue a ruling en the legality or illegality of such form of oath-taking, the case being unprecedented in Philippine history.
Appearing before the Solicitor-General, Sr. Roman Ozaeta, as a ness in his own behalf, Mayor Alejandrino, one of the several Com. munist town heads elected in Pampanga in the last elections, flatly refused to take the oath in the customary Philippine form.
"Not a Fascist"
The mayor, who wore a flaming red shirt, said he did not want to be "taken for a Fascist." The approved Philippine form of oath-taking is to raise the right hand with the palm open.
Sr. Ozaeta refused to permit Sr. Alejandrino to take his oath im any form other than the officially accepted one, alleging that "the clenching of the fist is part of the rite or ceremony of the Communists in the Philippines, derived from Soviet Russia, which signifies a challenge to the existing form of government."
Mayor Alejandrino, however, main. tained that he could take his oath only with the clenched fist, asserting that "it is against my conscience to fake the oath in another form than what I believe is binding to my conscience."
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.