THE Court of Appeals (CA) has issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) enjoining the Office of the Ombudsman from implementing its decision issued in 2016 barring Nueva Ecija Gov. Aurelio Umali from assuming his post after finding him liable for mishandling his pork-barrel fund amounting to P15 million.
In a three-page resolution penned by Associate Justice Apolinario Bruselas Jr., the CA’s Seventh Division granted the petition filed by Umali seeking the issuance of a TRO and/or a writ of preliminary injunction to enjoin the secretary of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) from implementing the assailed decision of the Ombudsman pending resolution of his petition for review.
It can be recalled that Umali was found administratively liable for diverting substantial funds from the Priority Development Assistance Fund and the Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Program funds to Masaganing Ani Para sa Magsasaka Foundation Inc. (MAMFI) and the Samahan ng mga Manininda ng Prutas sa Gabi Inc. to implement his livelihood projects.
The two firms reported that the funds were used to procure agricultural implements but investigation revealed that no real purchases as all the liquid fertilizers were supposedly sourced from Nutrigrowth Philippines, a company owned by alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles.
The Ombudsman ordered Umali’s dismissal from service and perpetual disqualification from holding public office in 2016.
In his petition before the CA, Umali said he was found administratively liable for acts committed when he was a member of Congress as third district representative of Nueva Ecija but was subsequently elected as provincial governor in the May 2019 election.
The case stemmed after the DILG, upon the Ombudsman’s direction, issued a regional advisory mandating that local elective officials who were dismissed from service should serve the imposed penalty even after the said officials were proclaimed to have won in the last election.
In granting Umali’s petition, the CA held that in a case where a public officer had been duly elected despite an order of suspension from the Ombudsman, the Supreme Court emphasized the importance of maintaining the status quo so as not to deprive the electorate of the services of the person they have voted into office.
“Here, there is no dispute that the petitioner was duly elected as the Governor of the Province of Nueva Ecija even after he was found administratively liable by the Ombudsman. Considering that he was meted the maximum penalty of dismissal from service and perpetual disqualification to re-enter the government, it becomes necessary to preserve the status quo, that is, to recognize his election to office, in the meantime, so as to protect the electorate of the Province of Nueva Ecija and the petitioner from any grave or irreparable injury that they may sustain in view of the enforcement of the assailed Ombudsman decision,” the CA said.
“We also find this action to be more prudent since the instant petition presented several questions of law that are still of unprecedented and novel import,” it added.
Concurring with the ruling were Associate Justices Nina G. Antonio Valenzuela and Louis Acosta.