By Paulo Loreto Lim

Echoing the arguments brought forward in a letter penned by former Provincial Board Member Victor Puey to the Court of Appeals-Cebu Station, earlier this month, journalist and chair of the Negros chapter of Mothers and Relatives against Tyranny and Repression (MARTYR) Edgar Cadagat recently filed an urgent motion to inhibit to the said court.
Like Puey, he is requesting the division to inhibit itself and conduct a re-raffle, claiming the dismissal case surrounding Bacolod City Mayor Evelio Leonardia has already been prejudged in the mayor’s favor.
In his motion, he was particularly critical of the use of the “Aguinaldo Doctrine,” also known as the Condonation Legal Doctrine, wherein reelection to office is considered an acceptance of the official’s past actions.
Cadagat noted, the Supreme Court has already ruled against the use of the doctrine “because of its absurdity and impracticability.”
He added, Leonardia’s respondents, all subordinates of the mayor, have been dismissed and stripped of entitlements of their previous positions, while Leonardia is currently “absolved because of this Aguinaldo Doctrine.”
Cadagat called it “contravention” to command responsibility, writing, “Its application would, in effect, be ‘Commander has no responsibility.’”
He also noted, with the successful use of the doctrine in his request for a temporary restraining order, the mayor will use it as an “excuse for all his pending administrative cases.” That was followed by a litany of pending cases Leonardia has before the Office of Ombudsman, including four plunder cases.
Cadagat called voluntary inhibition “a matter of conscience and sound discretion on the part of the judge,” also citing the 2006 case of People vs. Hon. Justice Gregory S. Ong, where it found judges must be “above suspicion” of impropriety and have a duty to “promote confidence in the judicial system.”/WDJ