OVERALL Deputy Ombudsman Melchor Arthur Carandang may question Malacañang’s order to suspend him at the Supreme Court if he feels the suspension order was illegal, a House leader said on Sunday.
“Kung agrabyado si Carandang, umakyat na siya sa Supreme Court,” Leyte Rep. Vicente Veloso told a radio interview.
“Hindi naman aakyat ang Office of the President, pupunta doon para humingi ng declatory relief because under the Rules of Court, Rule 2, Section 2, ang may cause of action, as of now, as it appears, ay si Carandang,”
Veloso, vice chairman of the House committee on justice, said the high court was in the best position to a justiciable action on Carandang’s case in the event he elevated his case before it.
“Hindi ka naman puwedeng umakyat sa husgado kung wala pang cause of action,” Veloso said.
“And by express provision of the Constitution, prohibition nandoon talaga sa Korte Suprema and it becomes a justiciable action.”
Veloso echoed the statement of Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque that Carandang may question the Palace’s suspension order on him before a court if he felt President Rodrigo Duterte was wrong in sanctioning him.
Last week, Malacañang imposed a 90-day preventive suspension against Carandang, even as he was also accused of grave misconduct and grave dishonesty for unauthorized disclosures of the alleged bank transactions of President Rodrigo Duterte and his family.
Roque said Carandang’s suspension was executory in the absence of a temporary restraining order from a court.
The suspension order came after Manuelito Luna and Eligio Mallari and former lawmakers Glenn Chiong and Jacinto Paras separately filed cases against Carandang.
Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales earlier said she would not comply with the Palace’s order.
Meanwhile, Veloso proposed that the Ombudsman’s functions should be transferred to the Department of Justice to get rid of the perception that it was functioning as an “office of persecution.”
Veloso said Justice undersecretaries, who are career officials, should perform the role of the Ombudsman. He believes the Justice department can competently solve the Ombudsman’s backlog in cases.
He said the action of the Sandiganbayan to dismiss most of the cases filed by the Ombudsman due to ‘‘inordinate delay” was a sign of the latter’s incompetence.
