|
Monday, August 15, 2005
Lawyer says appeals court order allows cop to work
WITH the issuance of the 60-day temporary restraining order (TRO) against the suspension of SPO4 Adonis Dumpit, the policeman can rejoin the police force, his lawyer said.
“We only have to bring the order from the Court of Appeals (CA) to the CCPO (Cebu City Police Office) for him to be able to get to work anytime,” lawyer Pedro Leslie Salva said, adding he already has a copy of the TRO.
Dumpit welcomed the TRO, but said he will not be coming back to Cebu City until next week.
Amid reports that he is actually in Cebu recuperating from two gunshot wounds, Dumpit maintained he is in his hometown in Banganga, Davao Oriental. He said he still has to take care of his ailing mother. (Separate story)
Salva said Dumpit’s next legal battle will be the hearing for the issuance of a preliminary injunction, which the policeman needs by the time the 60-day TRO shall have lapsed.
If the preliminary injunction is granted, Dumpit can continue working with the police until his petition for review with the CA is resolved.
Clipped
With the issuance of the TRO, Salva is also confident that the power of the ombudsman to dismiss public officials will finally be clipped.
Although the TRO did not tackle the merits of the motion for review they have filed with the CA, Salva said the Constitution is clear that the anti-graft office’s power is purely recommendatory.
“And any law passed that is contrary to the Constitution is considered illegal and unconstitutional. There have been cases decided on our favor on that issue,” Salva said.
The Ombudsman for the Military suspended Dumpit in relation to the shooting of Wilson Borja in the port area in August last year.
Dumpit is facing an administrative complaint before the anti-graft office over the incident.
The policeman also has a pending criminal case before the Regional Trial Court for the death of jeepney driver Federico Tabon on the same day Borja was shot. But the lone witness in Tabon’s shooting executed an affidavit clearing Dumpit.
Dumpit is considered as one of the best shooters in the city’s police force.
In an interview, Salva admitted that the TRO did not categorically state the reinstatement of Dumpit.
“But the implication of the order is that Dumpit can already go back to work because the ombudsman and the PNP have been enjoined from implementing the suspension order,” Salva said.
Salva confirmed that Dumpit is still in Mindanao.
Vacation
In a text message to Sun.Star Cebu, Dumpit said he is planning to file a vacation leave until next week because he has to tend to the needs of his 72-year-old mother, who is ill.
He could not just leave his 85-year-old father to take care of his mother alone, Dumpit said.
“Next week, inig kaayo-ayo ni Mama nako. Tiguwang naman, 72 na. Akong Papa, 85, na. Hangyo man nga di sa ko pabiyaon. Pananglitan naa na TRO, pa file-lan sa nako og leave (When my mother gets well. She’s already old at 72. My father is 85. They’ve asked me not to leave. If there’s a TRO, I’ll have to file for a leave of absence),” Dumpit said in his text message to Sun.Star Cebu’s query.
Meanwhile, Salva said the Office Solicitor-General (OSG), which represents the state in cases pending before the CA and the Supreme Court, has already commented in another case on the power of the ombudsman.
He said the OSG’s comment is favorable to their cause of clipping the anti-graft office’s powers to suspend officials.
In the case of ombudsman vs. Barillo, the OSG opined that the ombudsman has no direct authority to suspend any public employee or official, and that its power is “purely recommendatory,” Salva said. GN/JST
(August 15, 2005 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board.Click here. |
|
[return to top]
[home]
[network page]
|
LOCAL NEWS
BUSINESS
OPINION
SPORTS
LIFESTYLE
FEATURE
SUPERBALITA
WEEKEND
|
