Palace: Morales can’t dismiss ex-governor
OMBUDSMAN Conchita CarpioMorales “cannot arrogate the power of Congress” to dismiss Deputy Speaker and Cebu City Rep. Gwendolyn Garcia from her post, Malacañang said on Monday night. Morales had found Garcia administratively liable for grave mis case dating back to the time when she was still governor of Cebu.
of the Ombudsman based on the merits of the case, only Congress may suspend or remove its members based on the former’s anti-graft and corruption rulings. She cannot arrogate this power of Congress,” Palace spokesman Harry Roque said in a statement.
Roque added that only the House of Representatives, convened in plenary and by a twothirds vote, can dismiss Garcia from her post.
“It is also unfortunate that the decision of the Ombudsman was released at a time when such actions could be given political color. While we leave the merits of the case to the Ombudsman, the release of the decision could have come at a more circumspect time,” he said.
Roque and Garcia were among the three congressmen who supported the impeachment case against then- Commission on Elections ( Comelec) Chairman Juan Andres Bautista.
The impeachment case led to the resignation of Bautista last year.
In a phone patch interview, House Speaker and Davao del Norte Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez said he will not implement the order of the Ombudsman because it violates the Constitution.
“Thre is nothing in the Constitution that allows me to do that. In fact, it is not within the power of the Ombudsman to discipline, much more to remove any member of the House of Representatives,” Alvarez noted.
“If I do that, I will be violating the Constitution since the Constitution provides that it is only us who have the power to discipline and remove a member of the House of Representatives,” he said.
In the ruling, Morales said then- governor Garcia was not authorized to enter into a contract with ABF Construction “for the materials and other incidentals of” the Balili property’s “submerged and mangrove portions.”