Allies of Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia expressed their elation yesterday when the injunctive relief he sought on the administrative case filed by the Office of the Ombudsman against him and nine other incumbent and former city employees and officials involving a furniture case, was granted by the Court of Appeals. Bacolod Rep. Greg Gasataya yesterday said he is thankful for the result since these developments will bring normalcy to the operations of the city. “We do not want to create chaos. With the way things are happening in Bacolod City, we don't want its progress and programs disrupted,” he said. Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran said that, personally, he is happy that the mayor was granted the writ of preliminary injunction he had sought before the 60 days temporary restraining order lapsed. Familiaran said he believes the Court of Appeals saw that the decision of the Ombudsman against the mayor was unfair. The mayor has his full support, no matter what may happen, he said, in reaction to allegations that he is interested to take over if the decision may not be favorable to Leonardia. Familiaran said he is willing to give way to any of his partymates if they are interested to run for vice mayor in the next elections. A title is not important if one wants to serve. They were elected to serve the people and not to fight or pull each other down, he said, adding that their intention is to improve the lives of the people and help bring improvements to the city. Councilor RenecitoNovero said that from the very start, he saw that after the TRO was issued, the writ of preliminary injunction be forthcoming. There is a vindication of the legal position of Leonardia, he said. Novero said that,for any other reason, except for reason of merit, the Ombudsman itself stated that there was no bad faith, nothing was stolen, and there was no conspiracy. And, on top of this, the Supreme Court is very emphatic that the condonation doctrine still applies in favor of Leonardia. “From my own experience as a lawyer, and from my own vision of the law, I am very confident that the mayorwill be favored with preliminary injunction. I am hopeful that the very same principle applied by the court in the TRO and the issuance or preliminary injunction,will be the very same principle that it will utilize in rendering its decision,” he added. Councilor Caesar Distrito said they are again vindicated that the mayor is entitled to the preliminary injunction and, in fact, they were hoping that the case will be dismissed. However, this is what they had expected because it is clear that the law is in his favor, he said. “This is again a vindication on the Leonardia camp and GrupoProgreso, and we are expecting that everything will fall into place,” he added. Distrito said that with the preliminary injunction issued by the Court of Appeals, they are hoping that this will stop all insinuations and intrigues that Bacolod will have a new mayor after Leonardia leaves City Hall.*CGS BY CHRYSEE SAMILLANO
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
Archives
September 2020
Categories
All
|