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Governor Garcia’s lawyer says the Court of Appeals has already issued a temporary restraining order against the ombudsman’s April 23 preventive suspension order
CEBU, Philippines – The Office of the Ombudsman issued a show cause order against Cebu Governor Gwen Garcia for defying its April 23 preventive suspension order pending investigation of her alleged involvement in a controversial desiltation project.
Ombudsman Samuel Martires signed the show cause order on May 19 and a copy of the order was given to the media on Thursday, May 22.
“You are hereby ordered to show cause within five (5) days from receipt hereof why you should not be cited for indirect contempt for continuously defying the 23 April 2025 Order of the Ombudsman preventively suspending you from office,” the document read.
The Ombudsman handed down to the Cebu governor on April 29 a six-month preventive suspension order for issuing a permit for a desiltation project in the Mananga River in Talisay City.
A certain Moises Garcia Deiparine filed a complaint before the Office of the Ombudsman, accusing the governor of abuse of authority for releasing the permit even though the proponents did not have the requirements from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
Garcia has denied these accusations.
The ombudsman also sent a show cause order to Undersecretary Rolando Puno of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to explain why he said during a presser on May 9, that the DILG would not act upon the preventive suspension order.
“Your office knows fully well that the order has already been implemented and is immediately executory,” the show cause order read.
Puno explained in that presser that the interior department was waiting for the approval of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to act on the preventive suspension order in adherence to regulations on the suspension of public officials during the election period.
Garcia’s response
In a statement on Thursday evening from the governor’s lawyer, Alex Avisado, Garcia confirmed that she received the ombudsman’s show cause order.
Avisado said the governor did not commit any act of defiance and that she even challenged the legality of the preventive suspension before the Court of Appeals (CA).
The appellate court on May 15 issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) freezing the implementation of the preventive suspension against Garcia.
“With the issuance of this TRO from the Court of Appeals, there is therefore no legal basis to cite Governor Garcia for Indirect Contempt. Like any ordinary citizen, she merely availed of her legal remedies.
Avisado argued that the CA sustained the governor’s contention that the preventive suspension was patently illegal and issued with grave abuse of discretion. – Rappler.com
