Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales, who has clashed with Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte in the past, said today that she will not enforce the 90-day suspension the president ordered on Deputy Ombudsman Arthur Melchor Carandang, the lead investigator looking into Duterte’s wealth.
“The Ombudsman cannot, therefore, seriously place at risk the independence of the very Office which she has pledged to protect on the strength of the constitutional guarantees which the High Court has upheld,” Morales was quoted in a Rappler report.
Morales’ statement clearly defies an order the Palace, according to Duterte’s spokesperson Harry Roque, considered “immediately executory.”
The problem with Duterte’s suspension order is that jurisprudence states that the Office of the President can’t interfere in the Ombudsman’s affairs.
In the 2014 decision, Gonzalez vs Office of the President, Supreme Court ruled that allowing the president to discipline a deputy ombudsman violates the independence of the office granted by the Ombudsman Act of 1989.
Roque, a lawyer and former human rights advocate, is aware of the Supreme Court precedent but said the Palace could “reverse anew [the decision].”
Morales said that not enforcing the order was her “sworn duty to uphold the Constitution.”
She added, “the arbitrary disregard of a clearly worded jurisprudence coupled with a confident stance that it will be changed should never be countenanced.”
Carandang was responsible for releasing documents that allegedly showed bank transactions under Duterte’s accounts that amounted to about PHP100 million (US$2 million). The Ombudsman’s office is investigating if this means Duterte has wealth not declared in his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth.
The Palace believes releasing those documents amounted to “grave misconduct” and “grave dishonesty” on Carandang’s part.
