By NITZ ARANCON Correspondent THE lawyer of Mayor Oscar Moreno claimed that the then Misamis Oriental governor had no time to schedule public biddings when the capitol rented heavy equipment because of emergency situations. The capitol had to resort to “shopping,” a method of government procurement allowed in RA 9184 or the Procurement Law, said lawyer Dale Bryan Mordeno. On Wednesday, Mordeno secured for his client a 60-day temporary restraining order from the Court of Appeals (CA) against an order by the ombudsman to dismiss and ban Moreno from public office for the capitol’s heavy equipment rentals in 2011 and 2012 when he was Misamis Oriental’s governor. He also filed on behalf of Moreno a motion to dismiss the case against the mayor, and a petition for the issuance of a writ of preliminary injunction against the implementation of the decision of the Office of the Ombudsman. Mordeno said no public bidding was made when the capitol rented a tanker truck, a trailer truck and road roller that were used in road repairs. “Nag-canvas lang ta kinsay pinaka-cheaper  nga rate available... a matter of perception ba... Ingon ang ombudsman nga dili puwede pero kita  mi-stand ground ta nga ‘shopping’ ra ni kay wala tay panahon nga mag-bidding  ani,” Mordeno said. He said there was no time for biddings just to rent heavy equipment because damaged provincial roads had to be undertaken immediately. Mordeno said a number of provincial roads were damaged by storms in 2011 and 2012, and so, Moreno invoked RA 9184 that allows the “shopping” method. The procurement law, he explained, allows several methods of procurement: though public bidding, negotiated procurement, direct purchase, and shopping and small-value procurement. Mordeno said, “In other words, not all the time, nga kung na-ay government expense, mag-public bidding  kay na-a may mga method of procurement under sa  Procurement Act.”