(UPDATED) - Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales has issued a statement asserting the independence of her office and assailing the suspension order of Malacañang against Overall Deputy Ombudsman Melchor Arthur Carandang.
Carpio-Morales described the suspension order as "a clear affront to the Supreme Court and an impairment of the constitutionally enshrined independence of the Office of the Ombudsman."
She cited a Supreme Court jurisprudence decided during the term of then President Benigno Aquino III, which states that the President cannot suspend a deputy ombudsman as the said act is "patently unconstitutional."
In the Supreme Court en banc in Gonzales III v. Office of the President (G.R. No. 196231, January 28, 2014), "the Supreme Court categorically declared unconstitutional the administrative disciplinary jurisdiction of the President over deputy ombudsmen."
"The Ombudsman cannot, therefore, seriously place at risk the independence of the very Office which she has pledged to protect on the strength of the constitutional guarantees which the High Court has upheld," Carpio-Morales stated in a statement posted on the Ombudsman's official website.
Here is the Ombudsman's statement in full:
Carandang is leading the Ombudsman's investigation into the alleged hidden wealth of President Rodrigo Duterte and family. He earned Malacañang's ire after he revealed that he had obtained copies of Duterte's bank account records from the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) and that these were similar to the documents released by opposition Senator Antonio Trillanes IV.
The AMLC had denied being the "source of the documents" about Duterte's bank accounts.
On Monday, January 29, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque Jr. said the Office of the Executive Secretary has formally charged Carandang before the Office of the President for grave misconduct and grave dishonesty over alleged "misuse of confidential information and disclosure of false information."
Carandang was placed under a 90-day preventive suspension as a result of the charges.
Roque said the Office of the Executive Secretary's decision against Carandang was in line with the administrative complaint filed by lawyers Manuel Luna and Eligio Mallari in October 2017, urging the Office of the President to remove Carandang for divulging confidential information about Duterte and his family's alleged hidden wealth.
Roque on Tuesday, January 30, insisted that the President can discipline the deputy ombudsman. He said the suspension order was "immediately executory" unless a court issues a temporary restraining order.
The SC decision, meanwhile, stemmed from the petition filed by Deputy Ombudsman for Military and Other Law Enforcement Officers Emilio Gonzales III.
Gonzales, who was dismissed at that time for allegedly delaying the resolution of the case against the hostage taker in the Manila hostage crisis in August 2010, was reinstated following the promulgation of the said decision. (MVI/VoxPop Philippines)