CA issues TRO against Bohol execs suspension

CEBU, Philippines - The Court of Appeals in Cebu has issued a 60-day temporary restraining order enjoining the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) from enforcing the Ombudsman decision suspending Bohol officials of misconduct.

Associate Justice Geraldine Fiel Macaraig, in her penned seven-page resolution, granted the TRO application — filed by petitioners Bohol Vice Governor Dionisio Balite, Maribojoc town Vice Mayor Jose Veloso, Loay Vice Mayor Brigido Imboy, and Provincial Board Member Cesar Tomas Lopez — that will take effect upon their filing of P100,000 bond.

The resolution states that, “…since the said petitioners were subsequently re-elected to their incumbent positions in 2010, their re-election, concordant to Aguinaldo vs. Santos, indeed operates as a condonation of whatever administrative infraction or misconduct they may have committed in the years 2006 and 2009.”

The Bohol officials earlier filed a petition for certiorari before the CA after the DILG issued a memorandum on 14th of March 2017 directing DILG-7 Director Rene Burdeos to implement the Ombudsman decision, dated November 24, 2015, suspending them for a period of nine months without pay.

If the decision will be implemented, petitioners argued that they will suffer grave and irreparable injury. They added that, since they were re-elected in 2010, they are being covered by the Aguinaldo or Condonation Doctrine, which absolves a public official from any administrative liability.

The CA agreed that, with the respondents' re-election in 2010 to their positions, they have “clear and unmistakable right to the injunctive relief sought.”

“Petitioners’ right to remain in their office should be protected during the pendency of the proceedings. ... that the suspension from office of an elective official, whether as a preventive measure or as a penalty, will undeservedly deprive the electorate of the services of the person they have conscientiously chosen and voted into office,” read the resolution.

In the case of Provincial Administrator Alfonso Damalerio II, however, the Condonation Doctrine will not apply, as well as on Felix Uy, who is currently under a contract of services at the Provincial Legal Office, because they were not re-elected in the 2010 elections, the CA ruled.

Damalerio and Uy were among the Bohol officials ordered to be suspended for misconduct.