Court orders PGH chief to step down

MANILA, Philippines - A court has ordered the current Philippine General Hospital director to step down and allow the previously elected but ousted director to reclaim his post.

In a resolution dated Dec. 22, the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 84 granted a writ of preliminary injunction sought by Dr. Jose Gonzales, who was elected PGH director in December 2009 by the University of the Philippines Board of Regents but was replaced in February 2010.

The court ordered current PGH director Dr. Rolando Enrique Domingo to step down. It also ordered the University of the Philippines to restrain from recognizing Domingo’s performance as PGH head. But the resolution also ordered Gonzales to post an injunction bond worth P500,000 “to answer for all the respondents’ damages in the event this writ has, or will cause injury or damages to them.”

Sought for comment, Theo­dore Te, counsel for the UP Board of Regents, said the order issued by the court “has the effect of creating a new status quo which is not allowed.” The UP-BOR is respondent in the case along with Domingo.

Te also noted that it was Judge Filomena Singh who signed the resolution and not Judge Luisito Cortez, who is the presiding judge of the QCRTC Branch 84. Singh is Cortez’s pairing judge. Cortez is on leave.

“It (order) also prejudges the main case for quo warranto which is focused on the issue of who among Domingo and Gonzales should be PGH director. There is yet no trial on the merits of this issue so (the) injunction putting Gonzales as director is irregular and premature,” Te said.

Gonzales early this year filed a civil case for quo warranto with a petition for a temporary restraining order and writ of preliminary injunction. The court last April denied the petition for a TRO.

Quo warranto is the name for a writ used to inquire the legality or validity of an official’s holding of a position.

In the latest resolution, the court cited a 1992 Supreme Court ruling: “Once an appointment is issued and the moment the appointee assumes a position in the civil service under a completed appointment, he acquires a legal, not merely equitable right which is protected not only by statute but also by the constitution.”

The SC ruling also states that the appointment cannot be revoked without due cause. The trial court clarified that the writ of preliminary injunction is without prejudice to the resolution of his petition for quo warranto against the respondents.

Gonzalez was elected PGH director by the UP-BOR in 2009 and took his oath in January 2010. But the board held a new election in February after Gonzales’ appointment was questioned because of a vote of a student regent who was allegedly not qualified to participate for failure to enrol that semester. Domingo was elected new PGH director in that election.

In an interview, Domingo said the decision was signed not by Judge Luisito Cortez, the judge handling the case, but by his pairing Judge Filomena Singh.

Domingo noted that he has not yet received a copy of the decision but he was merely shown a cease and desist order by a doctor-friend of Gonzales Dec. 24.

”The resolution was issued on the last hour before the Christmas break. And it was not even served by the sheriff,” he added.

He, howerver, vowed to fight the case in court.

”I will file an appeal. I will exercise my rights for legal (remedies),” he added. – With Sheila Crisostomo