More waiting ahead?
Three days to go before the official start of the election period.
Cebu politics got an earlier than usual start in the season with an unprecedented hijacking at the Cebu provincial capitol.
The high drama in the 23-day impasse in the Office of the Governor has not been settled by the rule of law.
As soon as the Office of the President handed down its penalty of a six-month suspension on Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia on Dec. 18, and the order was served on Dec. 19, two things should have happened.
The incumbent should have received it, and vacated the office with minimum drama.
The right to challenge the order – its legality, it’s inconvenient timing, its political motives – could have been pursued separately with zeal in a court of law, the same relief Garcia and her allies rely on now while still holding on to centerstage.
Instead, we’ve been treated to spectacle after spectacle of political theater in the seat of the Province of Cebu that has converted Christmas and the New Year into a waiting game with one question: When will she let go?
Yesterday’s much-awaited hearing of the Court of Appeals gave a good indication of where this waiting will take us – more waiting.
With no Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) issued – not even when the petition was filed on Dec. 20 – the court clearly saw no life-threatening urgency to step in and freeze a six-month suspension.
Associate Justice Vicente Veloso said the petition for a TRO by Garcia would be contrary to the disciplinary power of the President.
Weighing the “irreparable injury” claimed by the suspended governor against injury suffered by the government, he indicated that the three-member division was not inclined to grant this relief.
In a perfect world where the rule of law is respected, a resolution rejecting a TRO would signal period to three weeks of a grand tantrum.
But that is not to be. An adverse decision by the CA would not be acceptable to a three-term governor who is determined not to end a historic run as Cebu’s first woman governor with the ignominy of leaving it as the first suspended Cebu governor.
Garcia will hale the President and her opponents to the Supreme Court. And we will have to wait again.
