Palace: Arroyo can expect due process from Ombudsman

Malacañang expects Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales to give former President and incumbent Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo due process following the filing of the sixth plunder complaint against her. “We expect Ombudsman Morales to apply the law, apply the facts to the law evenly. The test of due process, the test of fairness is whether you can give due process to your enemy," presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said Thursday. He noted that Carpio-Morales, a retired Supreme Court justice, had earlier vowed that the people can expect honesty, fairness and due process from her office. Lacierda said this hours after Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Teddy Casiño, Bayan chairperson Carol Araullo and former Gabriela party-list Rep. Liza Maza filed a plunder complaint against Mrs. Arroyo and her husband, Jose Miguel, in connection with the botched national broadband network deal with China’s ZTE Corp. in 2007. Carpio-Morales, during her stint at the Supreme Court, was known to have dissented on cases decided in favor of Arroyo, prompting the former President to file an opposition to Morales' nomination to the Ombudsman.. Asked if he thinks the cases against Arroyo now has a fighting chance, Lacierda said Malacañang has no control over Carpio-Morales as the Office of the Ombudsman is a separate constitutional body. “It is not within our jurisdiction anymore, it’s a separate constitutional body. We expect Ombudsman Morales to fulfill her constitutional mandate," he said. He said the Aquino administration is still in the process of gathering evidence against the previous administration. The multimillion dollar NBN-ZTE deal, however, is not among the those being scrutinized by them. “We are still gathering evidence. Itong NBN-ZTE, I’m not aware of any action on the part of the government to look into the NBN-ZTE for now," Lacierda said. He said they will file the complaints as soon as "we have a case [that] we believe can stand judicial scrutiny." He also said they will not stop any citizen from filing any case against any official. “You cannot stop any citizen from filing any case against anyone or former public officials if they believe in their minds that there is a probable cause in a crime they are accusing the public official with," Lacierda said. “That is something that we cannot take away from them, we respect their rights to file cases if they believe graft has been committed," he added. — KBK, GMA News