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[av_heading heading=’Ombudsman to defy order to suspend overall deputy’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=” av-medium-font-size-title=” av-small-font-size-title=” av-mini-font-size-title=” av-medium-font-size=” av-small-font-size=” av-mini-font-size=” admin_preview_bg=”]
BY ADRIAN STEWART CO
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February 1, 2018
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MANILA – Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales said she will not enforce the suspension order that Malacañang issued against Overall Deputy Ombudsman Melchor Arthur Carandang.
“Unconstitutional” was how Morales described the order. In a statement released on Wednesday, Morales said she will not “allow herself to betray her sworn duty to uphold the Constitution.”
“The Ombudsman cannot, 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,” she said.
Morales’ statement came two days after the Office of the Executive Secretary preventively suspended Carandang for 90 days.
The same office charged the overall deputy ombudsman with grave misconduct and grave dishonesty for his disclosure on the alleged bank transactions of President Rodrigo Duterte.
Citing a Supreme Court decision in 2014, Morales said the suspension order impairs the constitutionally enshrined independence of the Office of the Ombudsman.
“In a society founded on the rule of law, the arbitrary disregard of a clearly worded jurisprudence coupled with a confident stance that it will be changed should never be countenanced,” she said.
“Like any government official, the Ombudsman has sworn to uphold the Constitution and the laws of the land,” Morales added. “The Ombudsman will thus not allow herself to betray her sworn duty to uphold the Constitution by recognizing what is patently unconstitutional as ordained by the Supreme Court en banc in Gonzales III v. Office of the President (G.R. No. 196231, 28 January 2014).”/PN
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