Tindig Pilipinas: Deputy Ombudsman’s suspension is unconstitutional

Cause-oriented group Tindig Pilipinas on Monday slammed the suspension of Overall Deputy Ombudsman Melchor Arthur Carandang as a move by the administration to "cover the truth."

"We in Tindig Pilipinas condemn the action of the Duterte administration in suspending Overall Deputy Ombudsman Melchor Carandang. It is both unconstitutional and a coercive display of naked power to cover the truth," Tindig Pilipinas said in a statement.

"The independence of the Office of the Ombudsman has long been established by the Constitution and our Supreme Court," it added.

The group cited a Supreme Court ruling in 2014, two years after it reinstated Emilio Gonzales III as Deputy Ombudsman after he was removed by the Office of the President in 2010 in connection with the Manila hostage crisis: "[S]ubjecting the Deputy Ombudsman to discipline and removal by the President, whose own alter egos and officials in the Executive Department are subject to the Ombudsman's disciplinary authority, cannot but seriously place at risk the independence of the Office of the Ombudsman itself."

"What is true for the Ombudsman must be equally and necessarily true for her Deputies who act as agents of the Ombudsman in the performance of their duties," the ruling added.

Tindig Pilipinas pointed out that the "Ombudsman nor her Deputies do not answer to the Executive Branch, certainly not to the meandering threats of President Duterte."

The group also said that Carandang's suspension merely shows that the allegations regarding the hidden wealth of President Rodrigo Duterte and his family are true.

"The uncovered bank accounts containing hundreds of millions of pesos are real. By suspending the Overall Deputy Ombudsman, President Duterte confirmed what the people have long known all along: 'Hindi siya malinis, hindi siya totoong tao,'" Tindi Pilipinas said.

"No wonder the president refuses and continues to refuse to sign the bank waiver. Tindig Pilipinas challenges President Duterte anew to sign the bank waiver," it added.

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque earlier announced that the Office of the Executive Secretary has formally charged Carandang with grave misconduct and grave dishonesty for the unauthorized disclosures of the alleged bank transactions of the First Family.

Carandang has been put under preventive suspension for 90 days.

It was Carandang who disclosed last year that the Office of the Ombudsman has started a probe into the wealth of the Dutertes based on a complaint filed by Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, a staunch critic of the Duterte administration.

Tindig Pilipinas is an alliance of groups including YouthResist, EveryWoman, The Coordinating Group, the NGO-PO Alliance, the Business and Professionals Group, the Akbayan Citizen's Action Party, and the Magdalo party-list group, along with the members of Senate Minority and House Independent Minority. — Anna Felicia Bajo/BM, GMA News