Sanchez appeals to DILG: Extend 48-hour deadline

BATANGAS CITY — Suspended Batangas Gov. Armand Sanchez asked the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) yesterday to give him another 24 hours or until tomorrow afternoon to come up with a temporary restraining order (TRO) from the Court of Appeals.

"We are willing to step down but we are appealing to the DILG to give us some time in acquiring a TRO," lawyer Ronaldo Geron, the provincial administrator, told The STAR.

Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronaldo Puno earlier had given Sanchez and other local executives defying the Ombudsman’s suspension or dismissal orders until this afternoon to vacate their offices.

Asked if Sanchez would vacate the Capitol in case he fails to secure a TRO by tomorrow afternoon, Geron said, "Yes, we will. With or without the TRO we will leave the Capitol, pero sana they could give us until Friday afternoon."

Geron said Sanchez, through his legal counsel, filed a petition for a TRO with the Court of Appeals yesterday, a day after receiving a copy of his six-month suspension order from lawyer Roberto Abejero, DILG-Region 4 director.

In his petition, Sanchez also asked the appellate court to nullify his suspension over alleged anomalies in a P350-million computerization project.

Vice Governor Richard Recto, which filed the graft complaint, has been installed as acting governor.

Sanchez has questioned the timeliness of the suspension order, which he noted was signed last Sept. 26 yet but was served only last Tuesday, a day after the Commission on Elections (Comelec) ban took effect.

Geron said they decided not to raise an appeal with the Ombudsman due to lack of time.

A STAR source said Sanchez’s petition will be heard by CA Justice Regalado Maambong and Associate Justices Rosemarie Carandang and Celia Librea-Llagoco.

Sanchez argued that his preventive suspension violated the Omnibus Election Code, which bans any suspension of government workers during the start of election period.

He also claimed that his suspension was illegal since the complaint against him was only administrative, not criminal in nature, adding that the Ombudsman has no authority to suspend him based on the Ombudsman Act of 1989.

Puno earlier said the DILG would strictly adhere to the 48-hour deadline imposed on the defiant local executives.

Puno has instructed police to use force — but observe maximum tolerance — in clearing provincial and municipal halls being forcibly occupied by the dismissed or suspended officials and their followers after the deadline expires.

Sanchez’s supporters continued to stay within the Capitol compound, whose gates had been padlocked and blocked with buses, dump trucks and container vans. — With Ed Amoroso