Palace affirms dismissal of Deputy Ombudsman Carandang

Malacañang has affirmed its dismissal of Overall Deputy Ombudsman Arthur Carandang, Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea and Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said Monday.

The Palace denied Carandang's motion for reconsideration because "none of his arguments warranted a reversal of our findings in the earlier decision," Medialdea said in a statement to GMA News Online.

Guevarra said the Palace affirmed its July 30, 2018 decision last week.

Last year, Malacañang found Carandang liable for graft and corruption and betrayal of public trust in connection with his disclosure of the alleged bank transactions of President Rodrigo Duterte and his family in the course of the Office of the Ombudsman's investigation into the supposed ill-gotten wealth of the Dutertes.

"We denied his MR because it presented the same argument contesting the jurisdiction of OP, which we already found unpersuasive based on reasons thoroughly explained in our earlier decision dismissing him from the service," Medialdea said in a statement sent to GMA News Online.

"We also found his belated attempts to explain his misleading disclosures to the media, which was the basis of the charges against him, to be similarly unpersuasive. We carefully considered his explanations but found them to be mere afterthoughts and to overly reliant on technicalities that do not even apply to administrative cases being heard by the Office of the President," he added.

Ombudsman Samuel Martires earlier said he would have "no choice" but to enforce the dismissal if or when the decision becomes final.

His predecessor, retired Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales, previously defied an earlier suspension order against Carandang on the basis of a Supreme Court ruling that declared unconstitutional the President's power to discipline deputy ombudsmen.

The Palace insisted last year that it can discipline Carandang because he is a presidential appointee.

GMA News Online tried to get comments from Carandang and Martires but both have yet to reply as of posting time.  — RSJ, GMA News