PUP sues 2 judges for helping president keep post

MANILA, Philippines -  The Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) filed administrative charges against two Manila regional trial court judges who issued a temporary restraining orders (TROs) and a preliminary injunction that paved the way for its president, Dante Guevarra, to keep his post.

The PUP – through Commission on Higher Education chair Patriacia Licuanan, who chairs the school’s Board of Regents (BOR) – filed charges of gross ignorance of the law, grave abuse of discretion, and grave misconduct against Judges Silvino Pampilo and Amor Reyes for effectively extending the term of Guevarra and preventing the PUP BOR’s appointment of former rebel and priest Edicio de la Torre as university officer-in-charge (OIC) last July 5.

Reyes issued a 72-hour TRO while Pampilo extended it with a 17-day TRO, and later with a writ of preliminary injunction issued last Monday. The injunction issued the other day also stopped the PUP BOR from continuing their ongoing search for a university president.

The case before the Manila RTC was a petition filed by Guevarra, who sought the issuance of an injunction to stop De la Torre from serving as OIC and pressing for the extension of his term as PUP president, which had been rejected by the PUP BOR.

The PUP BOR said Pampilo had ignored a motion for his inhibition from the case filed by the Office of the Solicitor General, citing his probable bias in the case since he was a teacher in the PUP College of Law and his teaching load had been approved by Guevarra.

In a statement announcing the appointment of De la Torre, the PUP BOR said it rejected the extension of Guevarra’s term or his reappointment after considering a performance evaluation report on the university president.

De la Torre was supposed to serve as OIC while the BOR conducts a search for a new president in a “two-month” period.

Guevarra, along with two other university officials, was ordered suspended for 90 days by the Sandiganbayan in November 2008 in connection with 12 counts of graft filed against them by Office of the Ombudsman in 1995 over anomalous building contracts worth P20.9 million; overpayment of terminal leave benefits to former PUP president Nemesio Prudente; unauthorized payment of fees and honoraria to public works and PUP officials; overpayment on a land acquisition; and questionable disbursement of P10.65 million as payment to a dubious list of creditors. – With Sandy Araneta