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Monday, October 9, 2017
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(We yield this space to the statement of the Makabayan bloc in the House of Representatives due to its timeliness. – Ed.)
THE Makabayan bloc in Congress assails President Rodrigo Duterte for vilifying and intimidating the Office of the Ombudsman in doing its constitutional mandate to investigate the alleged hidden and ill-gotten wealth of the President. We say that President Duterte should leave Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales alone and let her do her job. He must back off.
What Ombudsman Carpio-Morales is doing is within the ambit of her functions. She is not usurping the functions of Congress, which has the sole power to initiate (with respect the House of Representatives) and to try and decide (with respect the Senate) all cases of impeachment. (1987 Constitution, Article XI, Section 3 (1, 6)).
The initiative to investigate the President, an impeachable public official, is within the mandate granted the Ombudsman none other than by the 1987 Constitution. The Office of the Ombudsman has the constitutional mandate to investigate on its own any illegal act of any public officer, including the President. The 1987 Constitution provides: “Article XI, Section 13. The Office of the Ombudsman shall have the following powers, functions, and duties: Investigate on its own, or on complaint by any person, any act or omission of any public official, employee, office or agency, when such act or omission appears to be illegal, unjust, improper, or inefficient.”
The foregoing is likewise supported by the Rules of Procedure of the Office of the Ombudsman. It provides: “xxx provided, however, that the Office of the Ombudsman may investigate any serious misconduct in office allegedly committed by officials removable only by impeachment for the purpose of filing a verified complaint for impeachment, if warranted.” (Rule III, Sec. 2)
Clearly, the moves being undertaken by the Office of the President against the Office of the Ombudsman is contrary to the posture taken by President Duterte when he was still a presidential candidate seeking the votes of the people. It will be remembered that he, together with then vice presidential candidate Alan Peter Cayetano, signed a bank secrecy waiver in March 2016. He even challenged his rivals to the presidency to similarly sign waivers, “in the interest of transparency and accountability and to deter corruption in any form in the government.” It seems though that this move was just a big political gimmick because the waiver that President Duterte and Secretary Cayetano signed during the campaign was invalid, unusable and did not specify the banks or any account numbers.
The allegations against Duterte and his family are grave and serious, and it is but right for the Office of the Ombudsman to act accordingly on such serious matter. Now if the President is really sincere and has nothing to hide, and in the same interest of transparency and accountability that he invoked when he was still a presidential aspirant, he must allow the Office of the Ombudsman to perform its functions, without any form of threat, harassment or intimidation.
(The Makabayan block is composed of Rep. Antonio L. Tinio and Rep. France L. Castro both of ACT Teachers party-list; Rep. Emmi A. De Jesus and Rep. Arlene D. Brosas both of Gabriela Women’s Party; Rep. Carlos Isagani T. Zarate of Bayan Muna; Rep. Ariel B. Casilao of Anakpawis; and Rep. Sarah Jane I. Elago of Kabataan party-list.)
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