MANILA, Philippines - Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA) chair and former Surigao del Sur representative Prospero Pichay has sought relief from the Court of Appeals (CA) against his preventive suspension ordered last week by the Office of the Ombudsman.
The graft case stemmed from a P480-million purchase of the troubled Express Savings Bank Inc. (EXSBI).
In a petition for review filed last Tuesday, he asked the appellate court to issue a temporary restraining order enjoining the Ombudsman from implementing its order.
He alleged that acting Ombudsman Orlando Casimiro committed “grave abuse of discretion” when he ordered his preventive suspension for six months and reversed an earlier resolution of former ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez.
Pichay stressed that the recent action of the Ombudsman office stemmed from a third motion filed by complainants Rustico Tutol, Luis Estrada, and Carmen Amores, also officials of LWUA.
His petition was raffled off to the third division of CA with Associate Justice Estela Perlas-Bernabe as member-in-charge of the case.
In a 10-page order, Casimiro said the investment of some P780 million in the cash-strapped, Laguna-based thrift bank EXSBI may be unlawful.
Pichay and other LWUA board of trustees were also accused of unlawfully authorizing the payment in favor of EXSBI the amount of P4 million “for subscription to increase the authorized capital stock of the bank.”