Erice to file case vs judge in Echiverri TRO extension

Caloocan Vice Mayor Edgar Erice is set to file an administrative case against the judge who issued an extension of the three-day temporary restraining order (TRO) on the implementation of a suspension order against Mayor Enrico Echiverri and three other city officials.

The four have been accused by the vice mayor of not remitting more than P340 million of city hall employees’ contributions to the Government Service Insurance System in a complaint filed in the Office of the Ombudsman.

Erice said Judge Dionisio Sison of Regional Trial Court Branch 125 should have “advised” Echiverri’s camp against seeking relief from the local court instead of granting its request for an extension of the TRO earlier issued by Branch 128 Judge Eleanor Kwong.

“Sison should have reminded the mayor’s camp that they already had a motion for reconsideration in the Court of Appeals, and what they did constituted forum shopping,” he added.

Under the law, forum shopping occurs when a person seeks judicial remedies in other courts.

A motion for reconsideration filed by Echiverri’s camp on January 6 that seeks to stop the implementation of the suspension order against Echiverri, city treasurer Evelina Garma, budget officer Jesusa Garcia and city accountant Edna Centeno is pending at the appellate court.