Garcia gets TRO from SC

The Supreme Court yesterday issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) preventing the Office of the Ombudsman from implementing its order placing Bataan Gov. Enrique Garcia under six-month preventive suspension.

In a three-page resolution, the court’s Third Division chaired by Associate Justice Consuelo Ynares-Santiago also directed Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez to comment within 10 days on the petition for certiorari, prohibition and mandamus filed by Garcia and other provincial officials.

In a 35-page petition, Garcia and co-petitioners provincial legal officer Aurelio Angeles Jr., provincial treasurer Emerlinda Talento, and provincial administrator Rodolfo de Mesa argued that the Ombudsman committed grave abuse of discretion by suspending them without any legal basis. – Mike Frialde