High court clears 3 CA justices in mayor’s case

THE Supreme Court (SC) has cleared three justices of the Court of Appeals (CA) of administrative charges a liti-gant filed against them.

Clemente Atoc filed separate charges against Associate Justices Henri Jean Paul Inting, Edgardo Camello and Pablito Perez for gross ignorance of the law and gross violation of the lawyer’s oath. The three justices issued a tem- porary restraining order in connection with the dismissal order the Ombudsman issued against Cagayan de Oro Mayor Oscar Moreno and Glenn Banez, Public Service Officer 2nd.

However, in a full court ruling, dated July 25, 2017 but released only recently and promulgated by Clerk of Court Felipa Anama, the high court dismissed the complaints against them for lack of merit.

Meanwhile, William Guialani sought Camello’s disbarment for his issuance of the TRO and a writ of preliminary injunction for his refusal to inhibit himself in certain cases.

But the high court said Atoc had no clear legal interest in the issuance of the TRO as well as in the outcome of the cases the magistrates handled. It also added that the administrative case against Camello will not prosper because it is not the proper remedy.

For someone to be held liable for gross ignorance of the law, “there must be a showing that respondents therein committed a patent, deliberate or malicious error in issuing the writ of preliminary injunction,” the SC said. The tribunal added that the justices committed no error “as they based their findings on established facts and applicable jurisprudence.”