THE Office of the Ombudsman and its supposed counsel, the Office of the Solicitor General, have different positions regarding the jurisdiction of the Court of Appeals on the suspension order against Makati Mayor Jejomar Erwin “Junjun” Binay.
In a resolution issued by the Supreme Court, it ordered the government lawyer to explain and clarify the sudden change in stand of Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales on the power of the Court of Appeals to stop her six-month preventive suspension order against the mayor.
During the oral argument in Baguio last April, the government lawyers, led by Solicitor General Florin Hilbay who represented the Office of the Ombudsman, said that although the Court of Appeals had jurisdiction over Mayor Binay’s petition, it has no authority to issue any writ of restraint over the Ombudsman’s suspension order pursuant to Section 14 of the Ombudsman Act.
Section 14 of the Ombudsman Act provides that “no writ of injunction shall be issued by any court to delay an investigation being conducted by the Ombudsman under this Act, unless there is a prima facie evidence that the subject matter of the investigation is outside the jurisdiction of the Office of the Ombudsman.
But the Ombudsman submitted its own memorandum signed by Carpio-Morales herself, a retired Supreme Court Justice, stating that the Supreme Court and not the Court of Appeals has jurisdiction on Mayor Binay’s case. Both the Solicitor General and the Ombudsman, however, cited the same provision, which is Section 14.
The high court said the memorandum submitted by the Binay camp only responded to the position of the Solicitor-General.
“To give respondent the opportunity to respond to the new theory and for a full disposition of this case, the Court required respondent to comment on the Ombudsman’s Memorandum and for the Ombudsman to comment on respondent [Binay] memorandum,” the high court said.
The high court also ordered the Solicitor General to comment on the Memorandum submitted by the Ombudsman “in view of its mandate as the lawyer of the government.”
Last March 25, Carpio-Morales urged the high court to nullify the injunction issued by the Court of Appeals against the implementation of the suspension order against Mayor Binay. AC