CEBU CITY – Legal obstacles may still continue to hound dismissed Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes even if he wins in the May elections.
CORTES (FB)
Despite an order by the Office of the Ombudsman perpetually disqualifying him from holding public office, Cortes was still allowed to run as mayor in the elections.
If victorious, Cortes may still be proclaimed, but assuming his post as mayor is totally a different story, according to the regional director of the Commission on Elections-Central Visayas (Comelec-7).
“In the Commission on Elections’ point of view, he can be proclaimed but can he assume as mayor? That’s another story. Because our issue here in the Comelec is his disqualification,” Atty. Francisco Pobe told reporters on Tuesday, March 7.
The Ombudsman ordered Cortes’ dismissal from service for allowing a cement batching plant to operate without business and environmental permits.
Apart from the dismissal, Cortes was also slapped with accessory penalties, which include the forfeiture of retirement benefits and disqualification from holding public office.
The Comelec disqualified Cortes as a candidate following the Ombudsman order dismissing him from service. Cortes filed a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) against the Comelec order that was eventually granted.
“He was disqualified only that it was subjected to a TRO that’s why his name was placed back in the ballot,” Pobe said.
Pobe said it is the Ombudsman decision perpetually disqualifying Cortes from holding public office that may prevent him from assuming office as mayor even if he wins in the election.
“So the one that they should fight for is the Ombudsman decision,” said Pobe.
The clarification was made after the Court of Appeals denied the TRO that Cortes filed against an Ombudsman order suspending him for one year.
The Ombudsman suspended Cortes on Aug. 12, 2024 for unlawfully designating Camilo Basaca Jr. as officer-in-charge of the Mandaue City Social Welfare and Services Office in 2022.
The camp of Cortes shrugged off the denial of the TRO.
City Administrator Jamaal James Calipayan said the denial of the TRO will not affect Cortes’ eligibility to run in the May elections.
Cortes is going up against incumbent Provincial Board Member Jonkie Ouano.