(Eagle News) — Any official who refuses to enforce the suspension order against Deputy Ombudsman Melchor Carandang may face “administrative and criminal sanctions.”
This is according to Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo, who issued the statement after the Office of the Ombudsman said it would not implement the suspension order issued by the Office of the President.
Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales said that the order was unconstitutional.
“The suspension should be implemented by the Office of the Ombudsman. Otherwise, its officials risk violating the same legal process that they assume to adhere to,” Panelo said in a statement.
According to Panelo, “Duterte has no desire or intention to intrude upon the Constitutionally enshrined independence of the Office of the Ombudsman.”
He said that in suspending Carandang, the President “is in fact protecting and preserving the Constitutional article on Public Accountability.”
Panelo cited Section 1, Article XI of the Constitution, which says that “Public office is a public trust,” and that “public officers and employees must at all times be accountable to the people, serve them with utmost responsibility, integrity, loyalty, and efficiency, act with patriotism and justice, and lead modest lives.”
“Thus, the President is just adhering to his mandate to ensure that all laws are faithfully executed, including the Constitution,” Panelo said.
According to Panelo, anyway, “anyone who disagrees with the suspension is free to question the same before the courts.”
He said “the implementation of check-and-balances in government and the enforcement of public accountability is not incongruent with the respect for constitutionally guaranteed independence.”
The OP issued a 90-day suspension order against Carandang following his alleged release of falsified bank documents which Senator Antonio Trillanes IV used in his supposed exposé of President Rodrigo Duterte and his family.
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