Garcia: ‘Shocking’ Ombudsman dismissal might prompt me to run for gov anew

Cebu Representative Gwendolyn Garcia on Tuesday said Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales seemed to be out to prevent her from possibly running once again for governor of the island province.

In a Dobol B sa News TV interview, Garcia said the Ombudsman's dismissal order against her over an alleged anomalous land deal could be connected to the May 2019 national elections.

"She's calling me guilty of grave misconduct and wants me to be perpetually disqualified from holding public office a  few month before the filing of candidacy this October," she said.

"So that's another suspicious timing kung eventually.. it seems there are people who would want me to run as governor of Cebu [again]," she added. Garcia served as Cebu governor from 2004 to 2013. A two-term congresswoman, Garcia can still run for a third term at the House of Representatives.

Garcia had earlier said the timing of the dismissal might be connected to her being active in the impeachment hearing against Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno. Now, however, Garcia said the decision seemed to be connected more to the 2019 elections.

The Cebu congresswoman said she would not back down and said the dismissal order might even encourage her to seek the gubernatorial post once more.

"Now that the Ombudsman has come up with this very shocking ruling really intending to take me out of the race, I am really having serious thoughts of running as governor," she said.

"Kasi parang binigyan nito ng katotohanan ang sinasabi ng Cebuanos na takot sila [my rivals] if I will run again," Garcia said, as she branded Morales' dismissal order as a "quite desperate move."

Garcia claimed her constituents have been egging her to return to the province as governor as they expressed their supposed dissatisfaction over the current local administration.

"Marami na talagang gustong bumalik ako as governor kasi ngayon ang cebu... [nung ako ang nakaupo] No. 1 kami, ngayon No. 45 na lang kami sa national competitive index of all provinces," she said.

"Kaya marami are asking if iI would run again... sabi nila takot sau ung nakaupo ngayon," she added. Hilario Davide III, son of former Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr, is the incumbent Cebu governor.

Aguinaldo doctrine

In the radio interview, Garcia insisted that the acts being questioned by the Ombudsman in the latest dismissal order were still covered by the condonation or Aguinaldo doctrine.

The doctrine clears a public official of any past administrative liability if he or she gets re-elected into office. The doctrine has since been abandoned by the Supreme Court in 2015, but was deemed prospective, meaning the abandonment would apply only in future cases.

"The Aguinaldo doctrine [still] applies to acts that were committed [or] supposed misdeeds were committed prior to the reversal of the Aguinaldo doctrine," Garcia said, but clarified even without the doctrine, she could defend her case on its merits.

"The [questioned deal was] entered into 2012, finile ang kaso sa akin 2013. Nitong 2013 elections, I got elected, this time as congresswoman by the same constituency that had elected me as governor but in a smaller scale nga lang," she said.

"Itong act na ito was committed prior to my election and I was again — by the same Aguinaldo doctrine — exonerated by the same constituency," Garcia added.

Personal crusade

Garcia vowed to "exhaust all legal remedies" to challenge the Ombudsman's dismissal.

"She [Morales] has made it as a personal crusade against us Garcias kahit noon pa po, going beyond what is established jurisprudence," she said, claiming that the Ombudsman seemed to be targeting her clan for being a staunch ally of the Arroyo administration.

"The very fact she insisted on finding me guilty of grave misconduct sa purchase kahit eventually napahiya siya sa CA," Garcia said referring to an appeals court ruling in 2014 already clearing her of misconduct in the land deal. — MDM, GMA News