Court tells DILG to stop order suspending Moreno

THE Sandiganbyan First Division has stopped the suspension order against Aloguinsan Vice Mayor Cynthia Moreno pending the result of the petition for certiorari filed in the Supreme Court.

“The DILG (Department of Labor and Employment) shall suspend the implementation of the the suspension order,” said Estela Teresita Rosete, clerk of court of Sandiganbayan First Division.

The Sandiganbayan First Division also ordered Moreno to inform the court if she appealed the suspension order, furnish the court with a copy of the petition and inform the court about the status of the petition.

Moreno’s petition for certiorari was earlier denied as her counsel has already asked the Supreme Court to reconsider its decision.

The High Court’s decision on Moreno’s motion for reconsideration is not yet known.

90 days

Earlier, the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) 7 sought the advice of their main office for the implementation of the 90-day preventive suspension against Moreno and seven other officials of Aloguinsan, Cebu.

Public bidding

The suspension stemmed from the complaint of former councilor Felimon Georsua Jr. that construction materials worth over P1 million did not undergo public bidding in 2007.

DILG 7 Director Ananias Villacorta asked DILG Undersecretary for Local Government Austere Panadero to clarify first if the implementation of the suspension order should push through, after the lawyer of Vice Mayor Moreno filed before the Supreme Court a petition for certiorari.

Denied

Moreno’s counsel Allan Orvien Geotina, in his letter to Panadero last September, said the “petition for certiorari which we filed before the Supreme Court has been denied.”

Geotina said they will file a motion for reconsideration.

“We hope that you defer its implementation and give us this last chance to convince the Supreme Court to change its mind and rule in our favor,” Geotina stated in his September letter to Panadero.