Vice mayor seeks halt to TRO that could lead to injunction in Echiverri case

Caloocan Vice Mayor Edgar Erice has asked the Court of Appeals (CA) to put a stop to a local court’s proceedings that could lead to the issuance of an injunction preventing the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) from implementing a suspension order against Mayor Enrico Echiverri and three other city officials for an indefinite period.

The vice mayor filed on Monday a petition for certiorari with prayer for a temporary restraining order on Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 125 Judge Dionisio Sison’s 17-day extension of the three-day TRO issued by Judge Eleanor Kwong of Branch 128 last week.

Kwong issued the TRO on January 9 “to maintain public order” and prevent “uncontrolled violence or chaos” between the supporters of the mayor and Erice, who had set up barricades around the city hall.

It was supposed to lapse on Thursday, but hours before this, the local court granted the mayor’s camp’s request for an extension.

During the 17-day reprieve, the court will conduct hearings to determine whether the TRO could lead to an injunction.

“The TRO could lead to an injunction if we do not do something,” Erice told the Inquirer.

It was the vice mayor who filed a complaint in the Office of the Ombudsman against Echiverri, city treasurer Evelina Garma, budget officer Jesusa Garcia and city accountant Edna Centeno in July, accusing them of not remitting more than P340 million in contributions of city hall employees to the Government Service Insurance System.

Echiverri and his camp managed to seek temporary relief from the CA last year, but the appellate court ruled on January 2 that the Office of the

Ombudsman did not commit grave abuse of discretion when it ordered the suspension.

Erice said the RTC should not have been involved in the issue since it was a lower court, while the CA, which affirmed the four city officials’ suspension, is a higher body.

“The RTC judge cannot judge on an order of a higher court,” he said.

Apart from the petition, the vice mayor said he has filed a writ of mandamus in the appellate court to compel the DILG to implement the six-month preventive suspension order against Echiverri, Garma, Garcia and Centeno.