Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama. | File photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines – The six-month preventive suspension against Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama stays.
This after the Court of Appeals dismissed the petition for certiorari with “prayer for issuance [of] injunctive relief” that Rama and seven others filed for lack of “meritorious grounds.”
In its decision, the CA’s Special Tenth Division said that petitioners failed to first file a motion to seek reconsideration of the May 2 decision of the Office of the Ombudsman to place them under preventive suspension.
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“A motion for reconsideration is a condition precedent to the filing of a petition for certiorari under Rule 65 of the Rules of Court, as amended. Although, the Court has recognized exceptions to the requirement, petitioner failed to allege meritorious grounds in the petition why it was not availed of before filing the instant petition,” reads part of the decision.
In addition, CA said that the “original transcript transaction receipts from the private courier, as proof of mailing of the petition, are not appended in the petition.”
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Lastly, it said that “the assailed OMB order attached in the petition is a mere photocopy.”
CDN Digital has reached out to Mayor Rama, but he is yet to issue a statement on the matter as of this writing.
Preventive suspension
Earlier, the Ombudsman decided to place Rama and seven others under preventive suspension for six months based on the administrative complaint that was lodged by City Hall employees Filomena Atuel, Maria Almicar Dionggzon, Sybil Ann Ybañez, and Chito Dela Cerna.
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The four questioned their reassignment and the city government’s refusal to pay their salaries for 10 months.
The other respondents of the complaint were lawyer Collin Rossell, Maria Theresa Rossell, Francis May Jacaban, Angelique Cabugao, Jay-Ar Pescante, Lester Joey Beniga, and Nelyn Sanrojo.
In an eight-page resolution, Ombudsman Samuel Martires said they found sufficient grounds to put Rama and the other respondents under preventive suspension for grave misconduct and conduct unbecoming of a public officer and conduct prejudicial to the best interest among others.
According to Martires, there was “strong evidence” to prove the guilt of the respondents.