The Court of Appeals has issued a 60-day temporary restraining order on 11 dismissal orders from the Office of the Ombudsman against Cagayan de Oro Mayor Oscar S. Moreno.
A statement from Moreno’s office said his lawyers have asked the appellate court to consolidate the 24 administrative cases filed against him over allegedly irregular equipment rentals when he was governor of Misamis Oriental province from 2004 to 2013.
The Ombudsman has, thus far, issued 22 dismissal orders on Moreno. The CA has handed down writs of preliminary injunction on six of these orders and TROs on the other 16.
According to the statement, the charges against Moreno stem from a plunder case over P33 million in equipment rentals and three other lawsuits.
To constitute the capital crime of plunder, an accused must have allegedly stolen at least P50 million in government funds. However, instead of dismissing the complaint, the Ombudsman divided this and the three other complaints into 24 separate cases.
The statement quoted former Senate president Aquilino “Nene” Pimentel Jr., who is also a former mayor of Cagayan de Oro mayor, as calling the move “political harassment.”
Aside from the allegedly stolen amount falling short of the minimum to constitute plunder, Moreno’s lead counsel, Dale Bryan Mordeno, noted that the Commission on Audit’s Region 10 office had originally said it was “incontrovertible that services have been rendered, services of equipment not found exceeding the prevailing rental rules, benefits enjoyed by the public, and the accomplishments duly recognized and cited.”
However, a special audit requested by Misamis Oriental Governor Bambi Emano in 2013 disallowed the equipment rental. Moreno has questioned this before the COA en banc, which has yet to rule on the matter.
