The Quezon City Regional Trial Court has ordered the reinstatement of suspended Commission on Higher Education executive director Julito Vitriolo, directing the sitting executive director to vacate the post.
In a three-page resolution dated Dec. 12, Branch 83 Judge Ralph Lee affirmed Vitriolo's reinstatement, citing “WHEREFORE, premises considered, the Motion for Reconsideration [of the Resolution dated Oct. 15, 2019] by the Respondent Atty. Cinderella Benitez-Jaro through the Office of the Solicitor General is hereby DENIED for lack of merit.”
“The [Quezon City court] denial of the motion is yet another vindication of me that indeed as the CHEd executive director, my right to the office has been affirmed by the Supreme Court by its final and executory ruling on the matter,” Vitriolo told the media in a viber message.
Vitriolo described Jaro as a “usurper and an illegal occupant” as CHEd executive director.
With the lower court's decision, he said “there is no more legal obstacle to the full implementation of the decision of the Supreme Court.”
“I just hope the CHEd chairperson and the commissioners will respect these court orders and decision under the principle of respect of the rule of law,” he said.
“And also, so that the operations of CHEd could normalize and we can all move on as united agency,” he added.
According to Vitriolo, “as an education agency, the chairperson and commissioners should be the first to show allegiance to the rule of law.”
Last October, the Office of the Ombudsman ordered a three-month suspension without pay against Vitriolo for simple misconduct weeks before Lee ordered his reinstatement.
In September this year, the Supreme Court upheld the decision of the Court of Appeals to reinstate Vitriolo as CHEd executive director.
He was then replaced by Jaro.
The suspension order arose from a complaint of then CHEd chairperson Patricia Licuanan, who accused him of issuing a memorandum to favor the release of a provisional resolution to a private school.