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BY JUN AGUIRRE
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Monday, April 10, 2017
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KALIBO, Aklan – Gov. Florencio Miraflores and wife Ma. Lourdes, former Ibajay mayor, believe their re-election should clear them of any administrative charge for alleged wrongdoing committed during their previous terms.
The Office of the Ombudsman ordered the Miraflores couple dismissed for failing to properly declare P12.8 million in assets in their Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net worth from 2001 to 2009.
But the Court of Appeals (CA) issued a 60-day temporary restraining order (TRO) against the dismissal order after the couple filed a petition for review, heeding the defendants’ Aguinaldo Doctrine defense.
The TRO is expected to lose effectivity on April 27.
If they lose at the CA, the couple may still “elevate the case to the Supreme Court,” said Vice Gov. Reynaldo “Boy” Quimpo, a Miraflores ally and Tibyog party mate.
Quimpo said he is issuing the statement as the local party’s “trial lawyer.”
“The Supreme Court can issue another suspension order [against] the Ombudsman decision,” he said.
The Miraflores couple had “undeclared, undervalued and overvalued assets,” including a Quezon City property, P708,400 worth of undeclared vehicles and P6,497,200 in Rural Bank of Ibajay stock shares, the Ombudsman-Visayas said.
In their petition at the CA, the couple noted that their alleged offenses were committed from 2001 to 2009 and they were re-elected in 2010.
Under the Aguinaldo Doctrine — also the “condonation doctrine” — any administrative case filed against any elective government official during their previous term gets nullified after their re-election.
But the Supreme Court abandoned the doctrine in 2015, saying it was “rendered obsolete by the current legal regime,” the Philippine Daily Inquirer reported. “The high court’s information chief, Theodore Te, clarified that ‘the abandonment of the condonation doctrine should be prospective in application.’”
Ma. Lourdes Miraflores completed her third and final term as Ibajay mayor in 2016. Her son Jose Enrique replaced her.
“Gov. Florencio Miraflores has been given a fresh mandate by the people of Aklan,” said Quimpo. “Many people tell me I would become the next governor, but I’m not interested in the position.”
Before getting elected vice governor in May 2016, Quimpo served as trial lawyer for the Tibyog party, currently led by Governor Miraflores as chairman./PN
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