Last week, the Office of the Ombudsman ordered Vice President Sara Duterte and nine others from the Department of Education and the Office of the Vice President to respond to charges filed by the House of Representatives related to the alleged misuse of confidential funds.
Duterte and the other respondents were given 10 days upon receiving the order to file their counter-affidavit. These must be filed with the affidavits of their witnesses, as well as other supporting documents.
“Failure to file counter-affidavit within the aforesaid period shall be deemed as a waiver of respondents’ right to submit controverting evidence, and the preliminary investigation shall proceed accordingly,” the order read.
The Ombudsman emphasized it would not entertain any motion to dismiss or motion for bill of particulars.
The order followed a House complaint against the Vice President and others earlier this week for technical malversation, falsification, use of falsified documents, perjury, bribery, corruption of public officers, plunder, and betrayal of public trust and culpable violation of the Constitution.
That’s a whole raft of serious charges against Vice President Sara Duterte that would make her face jail time if she is found guilty.
That would be in contrast with the Senate impeachment trial where
she would only be removed from office and face perpetual disqualification from public office if convicted by two-thirds of the members of the impeachment court.
But wait.
There are questions being raised as to the propriety of the Ombudsman conducting a probe of the alleged misuse by the Office of the Vice President at this time when the Senate impeachment trial is also targeted to commence by July once the 20th Congress starts its sessions.
While the Ombudsman probe will result in the filing of charges before the Sandiganbayan, what if it results in the dismissal of the charges against the Vice President?
And how would this affect the verdict of the Senate impeachment court?
It is feared that if the Ombudsman dismisses the charges against the Vice President for one reason or another, this could pull the rug from under the feet of the Senate impeachment court and give the senator-judges ample reason to similarly dismiss outright the impeachment complaint against her.
Or could it be possibly part of the playbook of the pro-Duterte forces to use the Ombudsman—who after all was appointed to his former position as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court by then President Rodrigo Duterte – to have the serious cases against her to be dismissed so she can be a formidable candidate for the highest elective position in 2028?
