Ombudsman Samuel Martires has urged the Court of Appeals (CA) to nullify the temporary restraining order (TRO) it issued against the six-month preventive suspension of outgoing Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia, arguing that the order had already been carried out before the TRO was issued, according to a GMA News report.
In a motion filed on May 30 and obtained by GMA Integrated News on Saturday, Martires told the appellate court that the preventive suspension was implemented on April 29, more than two weeks before the TRO was issued on May 15.
“But this Honorable Court closed its eyes to this very basic doctrine that when the acts sought to be prevented by the injunction or prohibition have already been performed or completed prior to the filing of the injunction suit, nothing more can be enjoined or restrained… the court, by mere issuance of the writ, can no longer stop or undo the act,” Martires said in the motion, as quoted by GMA News.
Garcia was suspended without pay for six months by the Ombudsman over alleged grave abuse of authority in connection with her issuance of a special permit to a construction company. However, she continued to defy the order and secured a TRO from the Court of Appeals.
The Ombudsman contested the CA’s TRO, dismissing claims that the suspension would disrupt the delivery of public services in Cebu. “The implementation of this preventive suspension order will impede public service strains credulity,” the motion said. “To be sure, petitioner Garcia’s suspension will not disrupt the delivery of public services to the people of Cebu,” Martires argued, according to the GMA News report.
Martires further contended that the election ban on the suspension of officials does not apply to the Ombudsman. “It is a power directly conferred by the Constitution upon the Ombudsman, and the exercise of such power is unqualified and not subject to the vagaries of Congress or opinion of government officials,” he stated. “The Local Government Code and the Omnibus Election Code cannot supersede the constitutionally entrenched powers of the Ombudsman,” he added.
He also warned that allowing the TRO to stand could set a dangerous precedent. “It allows petitioner Garcia to sidestep the preventive suspension and sends a troubling message: that legitimate grievances and complaints of graft and corruption, properly brought before the Ombudsman, can be nullified by a provisional remedy issued in contravention of established rules and jurisprudence,” Martires said. He added that this “erodes the Ombudsman’s prosecutorial and investigative powers,” according to GMA News.
When asked for comment, Garcia told GMA News Online: “I shall leave it to my lawyers to reply.”
