Sacked Makati City Mayor Jejomar Erwin “Junjun” Binay Jr. has suffered another legal setback after the Court of Appeals has ordered the dismissal of his petition assailing his second suspension order issued by the Office of the Ombudsman, this time pertaining to the allegedly overpriced construction of the Makati Science High School building.
The CA’s Special Ninth Division dismissed Binay’s petition for being moot following an order from the anti-graft body ordering his dismissal from service over a separate charge against him.
The appellate court cited the Ombudsman order, which imposed on Binay the
penalty of dismissal with perpetual disqualification from holding public office, as a supervening event in deciding to junk his petition.
“This court takes judicial notice of the foregoing issuance which became the subject of extensive coverage in both print and broadcast media. In light of this supervening event, we opined that whatever relief we grant to petitioner in this case, whether we will restrain, enjoin or nullify his preventive suspension, the same will no longer serve any practical value,” the CA ruled.
The appellate court stressed that although Binay’s second preventive suspension has not prescribed, it has been deemed “overtaken, if not superseded, by the order of dismissal by Ombudsman (Conchita)Carpio-Morales.”
“Petitioner, having been dismissed from his post as Makati Mayor, will not be able to take it back regardless of how we resolve the validity of his preventive suspension in the present case,” the appellate court said.
The second suspension order against Binay arose from charges of conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service, grave misconduct and dishonesty over alleged overprice in the said high school building by about P282 million.