Mordeno
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By LITO RULONA,
Correspondent

The Legal counsel of embattled City Mayor Oscar Moreno would file an appeal before the Court of Appeals (CA) after the Office of the Ombudsman denied his motion for reconsideration for the controversial Ajinomoto case.

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Lawyer Dale Bryan Mordeno, chief legal counsel of Moreno said he would file an appeal before the CA in a hope that the Office of the Ombudsman decision would be reverse and reconsidered its earlier decision in favor to the incumbent mayor.

Moreno has 15 days to appeal the Ombudsman’s decision upon its receipt, but Mordeno said that as of this writing they have yet to receive a copy of the order.

“Although the mayor has not yet received his copy, we have read the decision and we would immediately file our appeal when we receive our copy. We will no longer wait for the 15-day deadline,” Mordeno said.

It can be recalled that former Taglimao barangay chair William Guialani had accused Moreno and Bañez of grave misconduct in connection with the tax settlement case the city treasurer made with Ajinomoto Philippines Corp.

Moreno and Bañez, according to Guialani’s complaint, had committed a violation when they reduce the tax obligation of the company from P2.9 million to P300 thousand without the approval of the City Council.

Carpio-Morales, in her decision last November, ordered Moreno’s removal from office on the basis that he failed to file his counter-affidavit, although the mayor claimed he had submitted said document.

Early this year, the Court of Appeals had granted Moreno a 90-day temporary restraining order and a writ of preliminary injunction after that, essentially restoring his official capacity as the city mayor.

In its latest ruling, Carpio-Morales has denied Moreno’s motion of reconsideration since only a photocopy of the counter-affidavit was submitted to the Ombudsman.

“The denial of our motion for reconsideration is practically reiterated the  same basis ngano gi-upheld gihapon sa Ombudsman ang dismissal ni Mayor Moreno. Foremost of which is kadtong wala pag-submit sa counter affidavit. Ang nakadeperensiya lang sa among denial for reconsideration kay gi-highlight sa Office of the Ombudsman nga wala namo napakita ang original copy sa among counter-affidavit. Natingala kami sa line of reasoning sa Ombudsman kay as a matter of procedure, the Office of the Ombudsman can call for a clarificatory hearing for purposes of clarifying factual matters specially in counter-affidavit,” he explained.

Mordeno admitted what they forward was a photocopy since they had already sent the original copy and somehow it got misplaced while in the hands of the office of the Ombudsman.

“That is very funny because in the first place, why would we submit the original copy of our counter-affidavit knowing already that what we have filed was lost. The most that we can do (is) to show compliance that indeed we have really submitted, is to have original copy copied again and submit it to the office of the Ombudsman,” Mordeno said.

He said the clarificatory hearing was not made on Moreno’s motion for reconsideration.

“Have they ask for it, we can always go to Davao and present original copy of the counter-affidavit. Dili nato pwede ipadala nga walay clarificatory proceedings called for that purpose. We still have so many arguments that were not resolve by the Ombudsman. It would be just appropriate to ventilate this legal and factual issue in the Court of Appeal,” he pointed out.

Mordeno claimed the issue will still pass for a longer process which include elevating the case before the Supreme Court (SC) and they would seek all possible remedies in all courts of law.

Ang naka-nindot ani pag-deny sa MR namo is na-elect na siya into office. We will include the condonition doctrine nga ang dismissal ni Mayor Moreno was extensively discussed during the campaign period,” he stressed.

He said Carpio-Morales’ denial of Moreno’s motion was just an “error of fact” that they can raise and correct in the Court of Appeals.

Besides, he added, Moreno’s case is just a “procedural case ug dili graft and corruption.”

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