By Rey Panaligan
The Court of Appeals (CA) has reversed a 2015 ruling of the Office of the Ombudsman which dismissed then Makati City Mayor Jejomar Erwin S. Binay Jr. and several other city officials and barred them from holding public office in connection with the construction of the city hall’s R2.28 billion parking building.
In the case of Binay, the CA ruled that he is still covered by the 2010 Supreme Court (SC) decision that reiterated its 1959 condonation doctrine which extinguishes the administrative liability of an elective public official once re-elected to the same post.
In a 159-page decision on 19 consolidated cases written by Associate Justice Edwin D. Sorongon, the CA ruled that while the SC abandoned the condonation doctrine in its Nov. 10, 2015 decision, the High Court held that “the abandonment of the doctrine should be prospective in application.”
Binay had invoked the condonation doctrine when he challenged before the CA the ruling of the Office of the Ombudsman.
The Office of the Ombudsman found Binay and several city hall officials guilty of serious dishonesty and grave misconduct for the alleged irregularities in the construction of the Phases I to V of the Makati City Hall Parking Building II (MCHPB).