Filtered By: Topstories
News

Carandang’s suspension shows Duterte admin’s ‘blatant disregard of rule of law’ —Lagman


The Duterte administration’s “blatant disregard of the rule of law” was manifested anew by the suspension of overall deputy Ombudsman Melchor Arthur Carandang, said a veteran lawmaker on Saturday.

Albay First District Representative Edcel Lagman called Carandang’s 90-day suspension, borne out of charges over his “unauthorized” disclosure of President Rodrigo Duterte and his family’s bank transaction, a “legal aberration.”

Citing jurisprudence, he likened the case to a “lawless thing that can be treated as an outlaw and slain on sight or ignored wherever and whenever it exhibits its head.”

“President Rodrigo Duterte cannot defy prevailing jurisprudence and law that deny the President the power to impose disciplinary sanctions on the Ombudsman’s deputies,” the oppositionist Lagman said in a statement.

He sided with Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales, who said she will not enforce the Carandang’s suspension, citing as basis a Supreme Court ruling in 2014 that rendered unconstitutional the administrative disciplinary jurisdiction of the President over deputy ombudsmen.

“As the Ombudsman’s agents, her deputies are accountable to her, not to the President,” Lagman quoted the 2014 decision as stating.

The congressman also cited Section 5, Article XI of the Constitution, which provides for the creation of an independent Office of the Ombudsman and the composition of its officials.

Malacañang has said Carandang’s suspension, announced Monday, was immediately executory in the absence of a temporary restraining order from a court, resulting in a seeming impasse with the Ombudsman.

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque Jr. has denied there was an impasse, saying on Saturday that Morales cannot investigate or discipline her deputy Carandang because she had inhibited from participating in the case on Duterte’s bank accounts.

Solicitor-General Jose Calida, a Duterte ally, called the Ombudsman's refusal to enforce the suspension a "travesty of justice." — MDM, GMA News

LOADING CONTENT