Malacañang says it will keep its hands off the Ombudsman’s decision to withdraw the graft and usurpation-of-authority charges filed against former President Benigno Aquino III at the Sandiganbayan for his role in the Mamasapano incident in 2015.
Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said the Palace will not meddle in the decisions of the Office of the Ombudsman and other branches of government and constitutional bodies.
“The Palace doesn’t interfere with the other branches of the government as well as constitutional bodies. They have their assigned constitutional functions,” Panelo said in a statement on Saturday.
“They should freely perform their given constitutional tasks without interference from anyone or entity.”
On Monday, the Sandiganbayan’s Fourth Division confirmed that Ombudsman Samuel Martires had filed a motion to withdraw information finding no sufficient grounds to charge Aquino for graft and usurpation of official functions.
Martires said the withdrawal of the cases was “without prejudice to the filing of appropriate charges against the accused after the conduct of a preliminary investigation.”
The motion has been set for hearing on July 12.
The charges were filed against Aquino in 2017 under the authority of then Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales.
They stemmed from Aquino’s move to allow Philippine National Police Chief Alan Purisima to participate in a botched police operation that resulted in the death of over 60 people, including 44 members of the PNP-Special Action Force.
In July 2017, President Rodrigo Duterte said the cases filed against Aquino would not prosper as the Ombudsman was filing all the wrong charges against his predecessor. With Nat Mariano