Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales. INQUIRER file photo
The lawyer of the Navy officers accused of murdering Ensign Philip Pestaño in 1995 on Wednesday raised the possibility of filing an impeachment complaint against Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales over her decision to revive the case.
Ana Luz Cristal said Morales had shown “gross ignorance of the law” when she reversed a 2009 ruling by her predecessor dismissing the complaint against 10 Navy officers allegedly involved in Pestaño’s death.
“There are so many lapses and errors. This is not just error but gross ignorance of the law. There was no murder. It was a clear case of suicide,” Cristal said.
In a briefing at Camp Crame, Cristal questioned the decision of the Office of the Ombudsman to forward the murder complaint to the Sandiganbayan even though it lacked the jurisdiction.
“If the Sandiganbayan has no jurisdiction over the respondents, then the Ombudsman has no authority,” Cristal told reporters.
She said retired Captain Ricardo Ordoñez was only a lieutenant commander at the time of Pestaño’s death on Sept. 27, 1995, when the latter’s body was discovered aboard the Navy vessel BRP Bacolod City with a gunshot wound in the head.
Under Republic Act No. 8249, or the Sandiganbayan Law, the antigraft court only has jurisdiction over officers with the rank of naval captain and above and with salary grade 27 and up.
Cristal pointed out that the prosecution erred when it placed Ordoñez’s rank as naval captain “with salary grade 26” in the complaint.
Ordoñez, who retired in 2005, and another accused, retired Chief Petty Officer Carlito Amoroso, appeared in the press briefing and insisted that they were innocent.
Amoroso, the alleged gunman who was initially reported to have died, denied he was responsible for Pestaño’s death.
“They said I was the killer, and that I was dead. I’m here very much alive. All those involved in the Pestaño case are saying the truth and not lying,” he said.