DILG still at a loss over Echiverri suspension

INTERIOR and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo yesterday tossed the Temporary Restraining Order on the sixmonth suspension order for Caloocan City Mayor Enrico “Recom” Echiverri to the DILG legal team before serving it. “TRO was referred to legal department,” Robredo texted to The Manila Times when asked whether he will still serve the suspension order to Echiverri.

Robredo in an earlier interview, said that they will also seek clarifications from the Office of the Ombudsman and the Court of Appeals regarding the case of Ehciverri who was ordered suspended over the non-remittance of P38-million employees’ Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) contributions.

“We will do what is necessary, whether we write the Ombudsman or probably return the order back to CA so we can get a clarification,” Robredo said in the interview.

Expressing the filing and granting of TRO as “very unusual,” Robredo said that the serving of a suspension order against the beleaguered mayor has become more complicated after Caloocan Regional Trial Court executive Judge Eleanor Kwong restrained the DILG from serving the suspension.

The Ombudsman ordered a sixmonth preventive suspension against Echiverri.

Echiverri however, was able to get TRO from the Court of Appeals while the case was being resolved and last week the appellate court the withheld the Ombudsman decision thus lifting the TRO against the implementation of the suspension order.

Robredo said that it was the DILG and not the CA that was restrained by the Caloocan RTC.

A hearing was set yesterday at the Caloocan RTC in connection with the TRO it issued against DILG.

Asst. Solicitor General Tomas Laragan who was accompanied by Atty. Christopher Tiu of the DILG legal division, defended the DILG on issues raised by Echiverri’s camp.

Another DILG lawyer who requested not to be identified said that Echiverri’s counsels may work for an extension of the TRO from three days to 20 days.

The TRO will lapse after 72 hours from issuance also prevented vice mayor Edgar Erice from assuming the mayoralty.