By NITZ ARANCON,
Correspondent
THE Court of Appeals yesterday gave Mayor Oscar Moreno a two-month reprieve as it stopped the implementation of the Office of the Ombudsman’s order to dismiss and ban the local chief executive from public office.
Moreno was teary eyed when he received the CA’s temporary restraining order (TRO) in his office at around 11:52 am.
“Justice in Cagayan de Oro is still alive… very much alive, and I’m very grateful. The consequences would have been very difficult to imagine kung wala kana ma-issue, ” Moreno said.
He shook hands with his lawyer Dale Bryan Mordeno, and thanked him.
Moreno then told city hall department heads and employees: “Let’s do our duty, let’s get back to work.”
He said he was thankful to Vice Mayor Raineir Joaquin Uy who would have assumed as mayor based on the automatic succession rule if the ombudsman’s order was served. He said Uy was not in a hurry to take over.
Moreno revealed, “Ako siyang (Uy) gi-ingnan nga unsay mahitabo nako, atimana baya ang katawhan.”
Outside city hall, Moreno thanked his supporters who gathered there as a show of support since Tuesday afternoon.
“Salamat sa inyong paghago,” Moreno told them.
The CA ordered Moreno and the other respondents to post a P100-thousand bailbond each within five days.
The appellate court also ordered the ombudsman and the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) to comment on Moreno’s motion to dismiss, and petition for the issuance of a writ of preliminary injunction. The ombudsman and the DILG were given 10 days to do this.
It was the third time since 2016 for Moreno to secure an order from the appellate court that stopped the implementation of a dismissal and perpetual disqualification order approved by Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales.
Signing yesterday’s resolution of the Special 23rd Division of the CA were Associate Justices Louis Acosta (chairman), Eduardo Camello and Oscar Badelles.
In the eight-page ruling, the CA division ordered the ombudsman and the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) to hold the Oct. 6, 2016 dismissal and disqualification order for 60 days against Moreno and coespondents Engr. Roland Pacuribot, Elsie Lopoy, Elmer Wabe and Leemar Tinagan.
The ombudsman found them administratively guilty of grave misconduct, conduct prejudicial to public interest, serious dishonesty and gross neglect of duty.
Two other coespondents — Patrick Gabutina and lawyer Cancio Guibone — were not slapped with administrative penalties but were included as respondents in a criminal case before the anti-graft court.
The case was filed by Engr. Antonio Nuñez who complained that the capitol leased heavy equipment on several occasions without a public bidding when Moreno was governor and when the other respondents were members of the provincial government’s bids and awards committee.
Moreno has strongly denied any wrongdoing, and maintained that his actions when he was governor were justified.
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