A pre-emptive strike by the Ombudsman

First off, allow me to congratulate Philippine Airlines (PAL) for getting its certification as a 4-Star Airline by Skytrax, the International Air Transport Rating Organization. It was a goal that PAL achieved despite stiff competition in the Airline Industry. PAL joins 40 other world renowned airlines to sport this highly prestigious category, and is the only airline in the Philippines to have a 4-Star Rating.

But what makes PAL’s 4-Star Rating news doubly meaningful came from no less than Pres. Rodrigo “Digong” Duterte who thanked PAL chairman Lucio Tan for his effort to help repatriate distressed overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) promising Mr. Tan that he had no ill-feelings toward the latter and even promised to protect him. The President set aside their political differences because of Mr. Tan’s support to bring home distressed workers from Kuwait.

Just last Sunday evening, while we were waiting at the lobby of the Marco Polo Plaza Hotel in Nivel Hills, Cebu City, I could hear PAL’s stewardesses waiting for their ride to the Mactan Cebu International Airport Authority (MICAA) being briefed by their head who repeatedly told them that “The customer is always right… even if he is wrong, he is always right!” This is the kind of spirit and attitude that gives PAL its 4-Star Rating. Kudos to my good friend, PAL pres. Jimmy Bautista and chairman Lucio Tan. We were waiting inside the main hall of the Vicente Sotto Medical Center (VSMC) for the arrival of President Duterte (who came to Cebu to inaugurate the Malasakit Center) when we got the big breaking news that former Cebu governor, now Deputy Speaker of the House Gwen F. Garcia has been dismissed from public service by the Office of the Ombudsman. This case stemmed from the P100 million Balili properties that dates back to 2008 and it brings the question as to why all of a sudden did Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales issue this dismissal order years later when Rep. Garcia is no longer the Cebu governor?

There is a legal maxim which goes, “Qui iustitiam moratur iustitiam negat – he who delays justice denies justice.” Didn’t we write in previous columns asking for the impeachment of the Ombudsman for her selective justice? I have no doubt that Deputy Speaker Gwen Garcia attracted so much attention to her persona for being actively involved in the impeachment hearings for Chief Justice Lourdes Sereno. I would like to believe that the Chief Justice and the Ombudsman have a yellow connection… being both appointees of then Pres. Benigno “PNoy” Aquino III and when push comes to shove, they would certainly scratch each other’s back!

With Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales herself also getting an impeachment complaint of her own, you can bet that what the Ombudsman has done is what we call in military parlance a preemptive strike! This is why I agree with Rep. Gwen Garcia that the timing of the Ombudsman is highly questionable. If we all did some research… you can trace the troubles we are having with the Office of the Ombudsman from her own ignorance of the very laws that govern her office in the Ombudsman Law that Congress enacted on Nov. 17, 1989 or Republic Act 6770.

Specifically on Section 21 of Republic Act. 6770 it states, “Officials Subject to Disciplinary Authority: Exceptions—The Office of the Ombudsman shall have disciplinary authority over all elective and appointive officials of the Government and its subdivisions, instrumentalities and agencies, including Members of the Cabinet, local government, government-owned or controlled corporations and their subsidiaries, except over officials who may be removed only by impeachment or over Members of Congress and the Judiciary.”

Now I have an idea why House Speaker Pantaleon “Bebot” Alvarez lost no time in saying that he won’t be implementing the dismissal order of the Office of the Ombudsman saying that only the members

of Congress can suspend or sanction or dismiss members of Congress. While he got the order of the Ombudsman purportedly “for appropriate” action, but for as long as Rep. Alvarez is Speaker of the House, no such dismissal would take place.

Mind you, in a Court of Appeals decision on April 23, 2014 by Judge Gabriel T. Ingles, the most respected Judge in Cebu, the joint decision by the Office of the Ombudsman declaring Gov. Garcia as guilty as charged was thrown out by the CA, which proves another point that the Ombudsman was clearly finding ways to conduct a pre-emptive strike against Rep. Garcia. But worst of all, I just learned that up to this writing, Rep. Garcia has not received any copy of the dismissal order by the Ombudsman, which means all this brouhaha was done through the media people of the Ombudsman.