ANGELES CITY -- The petition to stop former mayor Francis Nepomuceno from donating government service vehicles to various sectors has been dismissed by the Court of Appeals.
Vice Mayor Vicky Vega-Cabigting and her camp filed the temporary restraining order (TRO) to stop the Nepomuceno administration from further donating properties owned by the City Government here.
The petition was dismissed by the Special 14th Division of the Court of Appeals composed of Associate Justice Antonio Villamor and Associate Justices Jose Reyes Jr., and Alihu Ybanez. The order was promulgated on June 18 this year.
The petition was filed last month when Nepomuceno and his outgoing team began "donating" the vehicles and other properties of the City Government to various barangays, teachers' cooperatives, urban poor organizations, and civil society groups.
The petition was filed against Nepomuceno, then city councilors Ricardo Zalamea, Ares Yabut, Rodolfo Simeon, Agapito Del Rosario, Robin Nepomuceno, and returning Councilors Carl John Miranda, Danilo Lacson, and Arvin Suller.
Donation supported by majority
Allegedly, Nepomuceno's decision to make the donations was supported by an approved resolution of the majority of the City Council members.
The resolution reportedly "authorized" the former mayor to dispose or donate City Government properties, including 25 service vehicles, office equipment and appliances.
In two letters dated last May 18 and 19, Nepomuceno asked the City Council to hold a special session and pass the resolution authorizing him to donate cars and other vehicles of the City Government to various beneficiaries.
According to former city administrator Mark Allen Sison, Vega-Cabigting then assailed him for saying earlier that the minority bloc in the City Council led by the returning vice mayor "should have attended the special session when the majority bloc approved the resolution authorizing Nepomuceno to donate at least 25 vehicles."
Sison told Sun.Star Pampanga that he "stressed that the donations made by Nepomuceno was duly authorized by the City Council through an approved resolution."
He added that Vega-Cabigting and her allies should have opposed the resolution in the special session.
Sison earlier said he saw "nothing illegal" on the move of Nepomuceno as it was supported by an authorization approved by the majority of the City Council and that the donations were accepted lawfully by the beneficiaries. (Jovi T. De Leon)