CA stops Palace from suspending Binay

The Court of Appeals (CA) has granted the petition for a preliminary injunction filed by Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay stopping Malacañang from enforcing a suspension it issued against Binay and 16 Makati city councilors in connection with the administrative complaint filed by former Makati vice mayor Roberto Brillante.

In a resolution penned by Associate Justice Enrico Lanzanas, the CA’s 13th division directed Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita and the Department of Interior and Local Government from pursuing its investigation on Brillante’s administrative complaint.

The CA rejected Ermita’s motion seeking to lift the temporary restraining order earlier issued by the CA stopping Malacañang from suspending Binay and the others for 90 days.

Brillante’s complaint stemmed from alleged phantom employees maintained by the Office of the Mayor and the Office of the City Councilors.

Brillante said Binay and his co-respondents "committed grave misconduct, abuse of authority and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service for conspiring with one another to defraud the city government through hiring of ghost employees."

Binay and his co-respondents have asked the CA to nullify the administrative complaint, arguing that it was unverified and was filed before the wrong forum.

They said the suspension had no basis, contending that the DILG should have dismissed the administrative complaint instead of forwarding it to Malacañang.