VACC submits impeachment complaint vs. Morales, yet to get solon’s endorsement

The Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption on Wedneesday submitted an impeachment complaint against Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales but failed to get an endorsement from an incumbent congressman.

VACC founder Dante Jimenez, chairman Martin Diño, legal counsels Manuelito Luna and Ferdinand Topacio, representatives from the Tanggulang Demokrasya Inc. and the Vanguard of the Philippine Constitution turned over the impeachment-related documents at the House Secretary General’s office on Wednesday afternoon.

Former Metro Rail Transit Line 3 general manager Al Vitangcol III, former Negros Oriental Rep. Jing Paras, and several relatives of the killed Special Action Force commandos in Mamasapano, Maguindanao in 2015 were also named complainants.

However, the House Secretary General only "noted" the complaint since the group failed to secure an endorsement from an incumbent lawmaker.

Paras said that the impeachment complaint was verified “in the sense that we signed but it is unendorsed.”

The VACC has threatened to impeach Morales for her alleged selective justice on complaints filed against the opposition of the Aquino administration.

Another VACC lawyer, Ferdinand Topacio last month said their group was still "putting the finishing touches" on the complaint against the Ombudsman.

The group cited six grounds of impeachment in the 94-page complaint against Morales:

• betrayal of public trust for conspiring with her over-all deputy, Melchor Arthur H. Carandang, in divulging information pertaining to the alleged bank transactions of president duterte and his family;
• committed graft and corruption for conspiring with her over-all deputy, Melchor Arthur H. Carandang, through evident bad faith and gross inexcusable negligence in illegally disclosing valuable information of a confidential character pertaining to the alleged bank transactions of president duterte and his family;
• committed graft and corruption and betrayed the public trust for not recusing herself from the SALN cases (Dino versus Salceda) and approving the dismissal of said cases despite the fact that the counsel for the respondent (Salceda) was her own brother thereby giving the said respondent unwarranted benefits, advantage or preference in the discharge of her official administrative or judicial functions through manifest partiality, evident bad faith or gross inexcusable negligence;
• violated the constitution or betrayed the public trust for failing to act promptly on complaints, to the great prejudice of the filipino people;
• betrayed the public trust for practicing selective justice or indulging in selective prosecution, to the great prejudice of the filipino people;
• betrayed the public trust for sitting on the complaint and for being biased in favor of former president b.s. aquino iii in the oplan exodus and disbursement acceleration program(dap) cases, to the undue injury of the filipino people.

The complaint mentioned the cases of former President and incumbent Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and former senators Jinggoy Estrada, Ramon "Bong" Revilla Jr., and Juan Ponce Enrile, all of whom were charged with plunder by Morales during Aquinos term.

"It is evident that the mandate of the Ombudsman to give priority to complaints filed against high ranking government officials and/or those occupying supervisory positions, complaints involving grave offenses as well as complaints involving large sums of money and/or properties, had been used and is being used only against those personalities," the complainants said.

They also called Morales a "misfit who does not deserve to stay a minute longer" in office for her partiality towards Aquino particularly in the former chief executive's case on the Disbursement Acceleration Program.

"Since she became Ombudsman, respondent has done nothing but to sit on the cases against Aquino as well as shield the latter from prosecution," the complaint read.

Aquino is already facing graft and usurpation charges at the Sandiganbayan in connection with the ill-fated encounter in Mamasapano, Maguindanao which killed 44 police commandos in 2015.

Morales remains mum on the matter. —NB, GMA News