In a 52-page “extremely urgent motion” filed with the Quezon City Regional Trial Court (RTC), 16 PAO retirees asked for a temporary restraining order (RTO) on the implementation of a March 2016 legal opinion issued by DBM Legal Service chief Rowena Candice Ruiz and approved by Abad.

Citing Section 16 of Republic Act 10071 or the National Prosecution Service Law of 2010 (NAPROSS), the legal opinion submitted to the Department of Justice (DOJ) on March 11 stated that retirement benefits must only be granted to the prosecutors of the National Prosecution Service (NPS), which is under the DOJ, and not to PAO lawyers.