Palace respects Ombudsman ruling but says only House can suspend members
Even as it said it respects the Office of the Ombudsman’s decision to suspend House Deputy Speaker Gwendolyn Garcia, Malacañang reminded the anti-graft body on Tuesday that only Congress can suspend any of its members.
“While we respect the findings 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,” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in a statement.
“She cannot arrogate this power of Congress. Thus, only the House of Representatives, convened in plenary and by a two-thirds vote, can expel Deputy Speaker Garcia from its rolls,” he added.
In a decision released on Monday, Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales ordered the dismissal of Garcia over her involvement in the questionable purchase of a P98.9-million Balili property when she was the governor of Cebu.
The Ombudsman suspended the Cebu third district representative for grave misconduct when it found that she did not obtain authority from the Sangguniang Panlalawigan to enter into contracts with Supreme ABF Construction for the purchase of the controversial property.
READ: House Deputy Speaker sacked over purchase of P98M underwater property
House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez said that he would not implement the Ombudsman’s order, saying that the decision came late and Garcia was still the governor of Cebu.
Alvarez said that such implementation would be unconstitutional.
“My appropriate action is not to implement the order. Why? Because there is nothing in the Constitution that allows me to do that,” he said in an interview.
READ: Speaker won’t implement dismissal order vs Garcia as ‘decision came late’
Roque also said it was “unfortunate” for the Ombudsman to issue such decision 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.
In January, the Office of the President (OP) ordered the suspension of Overall Deputy Ombudsman Melchor Arthur Carandang for grave misconduct and other administrative offenses after he disclosed alleged bank records of President Rodrigo Duterte.
READ: Palace suspends Deputy Ombudsman Carandang
Morales, in response, defied the OP’s order, saying that implementing the order would be against the Constitution. /kga
