CEBU City officials have have asked the Court of Appeals (CA) to stop the Office of the President from proceeding with the case filed against them for granting P20,000 calamity aid to City Hall employees in 2013.
In a 28-page petition, Mayor Michael Rama, Vice mayor Edgardo Labella and Councilors Hanz Abella, Gerardo Carillo, Dave Tumulak and Noel Wenceslao reiterated their stand that the Office of the President, through the Department of Interior and Local Government has no jurisdiction to hear the case.
They argued that the Malacañang or the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) doesn’t have jurisdiction of the case since the complaint of lawyer Reymelio Delute “collaterally attacks a validly approved city ordinance.”
The budget ordinance, which covered the distribution of P20,000 to each of the city’s 4,000 employees, can only be questioned by the court, they said.