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Saturday, November 22, 2003
De Jesus uneasy over TRO on suspension order
By Lizanilla Amarga, Joey Nacalaban
VICE GOV. Miguel de Jesus revealed Tuesday that he is expecting a temporary restraining order (TRO) against the 60-day preventive suspension order issued by Malacanang on Misamis Oriental Gov. Antonio Calingin anytime this week.
This came in response to how the petition for TRO against the suspension order was raffled Tuesday to the sala of Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 21 Judge Arcadio Fabria to the dismay of the vice-governor.
"I am expecting the TRO to be served," he told reporters.
It was RTC 10 Executive Judge Edgardo Lloren who facilitated the raffling of the case Tuesday by spinning the court's spinning wheel and with the arrow later pointing to number "21."
The vice-governor voiced apprehensions that Fabria might again side with Calingin and grant the latter a TRO just as he granted the governor's motion for a restraining order and a preliminary injunction against the Annual Budget 2003 ordinances passed by the Provincial Board.
To him, it is well known throughout the country that most TROs "come with a price" and that Fabria might be lured into giving the governor one.
But Calingin for his part slammed De Jesus for this latest statement as he denied that he has bribed Fabria into giving him a TRO and a preliminary injunction versus the 2003 Annual Budget ordinances.
"Na-praning na kana siya karon bisan unsa nalang kana iyang mahuna-hunaan siguro mao na kana'y resulta sa iyang buhok na perte na kataas ang akong advice niya kay maypa magpaputol na lang kana siya," he said. (De Jesus is getting paranoid nowadays as a lot of nonsensical things are cropping out of his mind. Perhaps, this is the result of how his hair has now grown long and so I am advising him to relieve himself of the agony and have it cut.)
Besides, the governor said their reasons for petitioning a TRO against the suspension order are all "very strong" and that he believes Fabria will see the need to put on hold this order coming from Malacaņang.
Non-forum shopping
Calingin's suspension order stemmed from the charges filed by De Jesus on the P25 million Misamis Oriental Telephone Systems (Misortel) Gingoog City Telephone Exchange Expansion Project mess.
The governor contends that he should be free of these charges filed by De Jesus since it violates the Aguinaldo Doctrine in which elected officials are "cleansed" from any administrative charges once they are re-elected by the people.
"It violates the Aguinaldo Doctrine as this case was originally filed before I was re-elected as governor," he said.
He reasoned also that this administrative case was filed at the Office of the Ombudsman in Manila last May 9 wherein De Jesus even swore in before the graft investigator a certificate of non-forum shopping.
"Pero ang maong kaso gisubmitar napud didto sa opisina sa presidente sa Oct. 10," he said. (But the same case was filed at the Office of the President last Oct. 10.)
"Alang kanamo isa kana ka lapasan sa balaod sa matud pa sa Supreme Court na (For us this is a violation of our law as even the Supreme Court said) forum shopping is a pernicious evil," he added.
De Jesus for his part said there was no forum shopping as he filed the case with the Office of the President where he was advised to furnish the Ombudsman a copy of his complaint.
Accusations
Calingin said the Office of the Ombudsman in Manila has already acquired jurisdiction over the case when it directed its counterpart in Mindanao to conduct a special audit on Misortel's P25 million Gingoog City Telephone Expansion Program.
He said the findings of the Special Audit even showed that there was nothing irregular with the project as he debunked De Jesus' accusations that the Gingoog Telephone Exchange is non-operational.
"Local calls naman gani ang Cagayan de Oro and other parts of the province to Gingoog City karon...nagpasabot nga bakak kini ilang allegasyon," he said. (The Misortel calls from Cagayan de Oro and in other parts of the province to Gingoog City are now considered local calls...this just means that their accusations are all false.)
De Jesus said there were anomalies in this project as it was only worth P25 million but its disbursements went as high as P29.4 million and that the communication equipments bought were outdated.
(November 19, 2003 issue)
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