THIRD DIVISION

G.R. No. 142261. April 5, 2000.

GOVERNOR MANUEL M. LAPID, petitioner, vs. HONORABLE COURT OF APPEALS, OFFICE OF THE OMBUDSMAN, NATIONAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION, FACT-FINDING INTELLIGENCE BUREAU (FFIB) of the Office of the Ombudsman, DEPARTMENT OF INTERIOR & LOCAL GOVERNMENT, respondents.

SYLLABUS

ADMINISTRATIVE LAW; FAILURE TO ESTABLISH EXISTENCE OF A LAW MANDATING THE IMMEDIATE EXECUTION OF A DECISION OF THE OMBUDSMAN IN ADMINISTRATIVE CASE. After due deliberation, the Court finds that the respondents failed to establish the existence of a law mandating the immediate execution of a decision of the Ombudsman in an administrative case where the penalty imposed is suspension for one year. The immediate implementation of the decision of the Ombudsman against petitioner is thus premature. WHEREFORE, the respondents are ordered to reinstate effective immediately the petitioner to the position of Governor of the Province of Pampanga. This case is hereby remanded to the Court of Appeals for resolution of the appeal in CA-GR. SP No. 56744 on the merits. Said court is hereby directed to resolve the same with utmost deliberate dispatch. AIDTSE

R E S O L U T I O N

From the pleadings filed by the parties and after oral argument held on April 5, 2000, the petitioner represented by Atty. Augusto G. Panlilio, the respondent Ombudsman represented by its Chief Legal Counsel, and the National Bureau of Investigation and the Department of the Interior and Local Government represented by the Solicitor-General, and after due deliberation, the Court finds that the respondents failed to establish the existence of a law mandating the immediate execution of a decision of the Ombudsman in an administrative case where the penalty imposed is suspension for one year. The immediate implementation of the decision of the Ombudsman against petitioner is thus premature. cdll

WHEREFORE, the respondents are ordered to reinstate effective immediately the petitioner to the position of Governor of the Province of Pampanga. This case is hereby remanded to the Court of Appeals for resolution of the appeal in CA-GR. SP No. 56744 on the merits. Said court is hereby directed to resolve the same with utmost deliberate dispatch.

This is without prejudice to the promulgation of an extended decision. llcd

SO ORDERED.

Melo, Vitug, Panganiban, Purisima and Gonzaga-Reyes, JJ., concur.