MANILA, Philippines - The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) on Tuesday insisted that the Court of Appeals (CA) has not invalidated the assumption into office by Makati City acting mayor Romulo “Kid” Peña.
DILG Undersecretary Peter Irving Corvera made it clear that since there has been no judicial determination that Peña's taking his oath of office was irregular, "the camp of Mayor Jejomar Erwin 'Junjun' Binay cannot consider the acts of the acting mayor as invalid or without effect."
"The fact that Mayor Binay did not question the suspension order at the level of the Office of the Ombudsman makes his raising the same issue before the CA procedurally questionable. He jumped to the CA when he could have first exhausted all possible remedies at the Office of the Ombudsman," Corvera added.
He said that the resort to the CA was precipitate on the part of Binay "perhaps in the hope that the appellate court would grant him immediately the relief he had sought. However, it came a tad late, and we believe, like the Office of the Ombudsman, that the relief sought had already been overtaken by events."
The DILG, through Corvera, appealed to Binay to allow Peña take over the reins of the city government since the operations of the local government unit would stop should two local officials claim the mayorship.
The DILG's appeal extends to the other city officials who have been suspended by the Office of the Ombudsman on the basis of the filing of a complaint by the special panel of investigators for the alleged overpriced of Makati parking building.