Thursday, November 20, 2008 SC stops suspension of Bataan guv
THE Supreme Court (SC) granted Wednesday a temporary restraining order (TRO) sought by Bataan Governor Enrique Garcia enjoining the Office of the Ombudsman from enforcing its suspension order against him and his colleagues.
The TRO was issued on November 14, or five days after the Court of Appeals (CA) deferred action on a similar petition filed by Garcia. The petition at the SC was filed on the same day that the CA issued its resolution.
In a resolution, the SC Third Division directed respondent Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez to comment within 10 days on the petition for certiorari, prohibition and mandamus filed by Garcia and three other provincial officials.
"Now therefore, you, your agents, representatives and/or any person or persons acting upon your orders or in your place or stead, are hereby enjoined from implementing or executing the questioned order dated October 28, 2008 of the Office of the Ombudsman, until further orders from this Court," the court ruled.
The SC's TRO means that status quo would be restored and Garcia and co-petitioners Aurelio Angeles Jr., provincial legal officer; Emerlinda Talento, treasurer; and Rodolfo de Mesa, provincial administrator, will be restored to their posts.
Petitioners said they were forced to elevate the petition before the SC due to the failure of the CA to immediately act on a similar petition they filed earlier.
"The issuance of the TRO is a matter of extreme urgency and importance, considering the highly volatile situation in the Provincial Capitol of Bataan where there is public unrest and great risk of violence erupting," they said.
Garcia argued that Ombudsman Gutierrez committed grave abuse of discretion by placing them under preventive suspension without any legal basis.
He branded their suspension as "political vendetta" as he was being blamed by Gutierrez for the defeat of her brother, Ross Navarro, in the May 14 elections for the mayoralty race in Samal, Bataan and to the filing of perjury charges against him, which led to the issuance of more than 50 warrants of arrest against the latter.
The Ombudsman ordered the preventive suspension of the petitioners based on the criminal and administrative complaints filed by private respondents Josechito Gonzaga, Ruel Masino, and Alfred Santos, three former workers of Sunrise Paper Products Industries Inc.
Prior to the filing of the charges, the Bataan Provincial Government ordered the sale of all immovable properties of the Sunrise consisting of a paper plant complete with machinery and equipment and two parcels of land where the plant is erected at Barangay Doņa, Orani, Bataan.
During the said public auction, the province acquired all the said properties for the amount of tax delinquencies owing to lack of other bidders.
Sunrise later assailed the validity of the tax auction sale of its properties before the Regional Trial Court (RTC) of Bataan.
However, Sunrise and the Bataan Provincial Government agreed to settle their claims amicably involving the company's machinery and equipment, for a consideration of only P50 million even if their assessed value amounts to P120 million.
They later moved for the dismissal of the case, which the lower court denied. The Bataan RTC subsequently issued a decision on June 15, 2007 based on the interventions of Sunrise creditors and nullified the June 14, 2005 compromise agreement between Sunrise and the Bataan Provincial Government.
Based on the said lower court decision, Gonzaga, Masino, and Santos filed graft charges against Garcia and the other local officials for failing to protect the interest of the province when they entered into an agreement with Sunrise.
The governor and the other petitioners, however, noted that complaint filed on January 22, 2008 were entirely lifted from the lower court decision involving acts they committed from 2004 to 2006 or during their previous term and prior to their reelection on May 14, 2007.
Petitioners noted that the SC had previously held that the rule is that "public official cannot be removed for administrative misconduct committed during a prior term, since his reelection to office operates as a condonation of the officer's previous misconduct to the extent of cutting off the right to remove him therefore."
In the assailed CA resolution, the appellate court's 12th Division through Associate Justice Arcangelita Romilla-Lontok merely ordered the respondents to file their comment, not a motion to dismiss, within 10 days. (ECV/Sunnex)
