MANILA, Philippines?The Court of Appeals has denied television network ABS-CBN?s petition for a temporary restraining order (TRO) against the showing of TV host Willie Revillame?s new programs on rival network TV5.

In a resolution dated November 18, the Special 14th Division said it would be ?injudicious? to grant the TRO while the network?s petition for review was still pending.

The resolution was penned by Associate Justice Priscilla Baltazar-Padilla, with the concurrence of Associate Justices Fernanda Lampas-Peralta and Manuel M. Barrios.

The Inquirer got a copy of the resolution from the sala of Judge Luisito Cortez of Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 84, also a respondent in ABS-CBN?s petition for certiorari in the appellate court.

The 14th Special Division cited a 2005 Supreme Court ruling that said courts ?should avoid issuing a writ of preliminary injunction which would in effect dispose of the main case without trial.?

The petition for certiorari, meanwhile, will be considered submitted for decision upon receipt of ABS-CBN?s reply to Revillame?s last comment.

The network filed a petition for certiorari or review with a TRO application after Cortez denied the network?s application for a TRO.

Revillame asked the Quezon City court to judicially confirm the rescission of his ABS-CBN contract, which will expire next year. The TV host also asked to be awarded P11 million in damages.

?Contract violation?

In reply, the TV giant filed a P426 million counterclaim against Revillame, claiming that the host, who used to work for the network, had violated his contract by signing up for a new show on TV 5.

ABS-CBN also filed a petition for TRO in the Quezon City court to stop the airing of the new show, ?Willing Willie,? on October 23, but Cortez junked the TRO one day before the airing.

Cortez, however, ordered Revillame to post a P426,917,646.96 bond to represent the amount sought by ABS-CBN to answer for any damages ABS-CBN may sustain.

This prompted ABS-CBN to ask for a review in the Court of Appeals, naming as respondents Revillame and Cortez, in the latter?s capacity as the presiding judge who denied the first TRO application.

The Special 14th Division, however, said it would be more appropriate for now to reject the TRO petition while the main petition for review is pending, so as not to ?render ineffectual any decision this court will issue and to preclude a prejudgment of the main case.?

ABS-CBN said there was a need for the TRO ?to prevent serious damage,? claiming that Revillame?s move to TV 5 was a clear violation of a contract.

It also claimed that tolerating Revillame?s ?insolent breach of the agreement? would put other contracts vulnerable to breaches, to ?ABS-CBN?s virtual collapse.?