Panelo: Morales should implement deputy’s suspension

The preventive suspension order on Overall Deputy Ombudsman Melchor Carandang should be implemented by Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales or she risks violating the same legal process she professes to adhere to, President Rodrigo Duterte's chief legal counsel said on Wednesday.

Earlier in the day, Morales said that she would defy the 90-day preventive suspension order from Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea stemming from allegations that Carandang committed grave misconduct in disclosing the alleged multimillion transactions of the bank accounts of the president and his family.

Morales said the order was “patently unconstitutional” because the Supreme Court, through its decision in Gonzales III vs. Office of the President (G.R. 196231), declared the administrative disciplinary jurisdiction of the president over deputy ombudsmen as illegal.

Panelo, however, stressed that the order should be implemented as such suspension should be treated as lawful and operative prior to the determination by a court of competent jurisdiction.

“It is a basic tenet in law that governmental acts enjoy the presumption of regularity absent the proper legal challenge,” Panelo said in reaction to the statement of Morales.

Duterte's chief legal adviser also stressed that the circumstances of Carandang and Deputy Ombudsman Emilio Gonzales III were different.

“Anyone who disagrees with the suspension are free to question the same before the courts. In the meantime, the suspension should be implemented by the Office of the Ombudsman,” he said.

Panelo said Duterte was just observing his mandate to ensure that all laws would be faithfully executed in ordering the suspension of Carandang.