SC divided on what penalty to impose on Justice Ong

Sandiganbayan Associate Justice Gregory Ong.  INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—The Supreme Court has deferred the voting to determine what penalty to impose on Sandiganbayan Associate Justice Gregory Ong who has links to alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles.

Voting has been deferred after deliberation showed that six justices want to impose the penalty of dismissal while six want him suspended, court insiders said.

Currently, there are 14 Supreme Court Associate Justices with the retirement of Associate Justice Roberto Abad. Two former colleagues of Ong at the Sandiganbayan—Associate Justices Teresita Leonardo De Castro and Diosdado Peralta inhibited from the case.

Retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Angelina Sandoval-Gutierrez, in her report, recommended that Ong be dismissed after confirming his ties with Napoles.

“Respondent, by his serious transgressions, has impaired the image of the judiciary to which he owes the duty of loyalty and obligation to keep it at all times above suspicion and worthy of the people’s trust,” Gutierrez said in her May 15 report to the high court.

Judicial office demands the best people in the service and thus, the Supreme Court “will not hesitate to rid its ranks of undesirables,” she added.

“[I]t is respectfully recommended that respondent Justice Gregory S. Ong be found guilty of gross misconduct, dishonesty and impropriety, all in violation of the New Code of Judicial Conduct for the Philippine Judiciary and meted out the penalty of dismissal from the service with forfeiture of all retirement benefits, excluding accrued leave credits, and with prejudice to reemployment in any government office, including government-owned or -controlled corporations,” she said.

Last year, Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno ordered an investigation of Ong following statements issued by whistleblowers Marina Sula and Benhur Luy before the Senate Blue Ribbon committee investigating the scam that Ong is Napoles’ contact in the anti-graft court.

Sula said Ong visited Napoles in her office at the Discovery Suites in Pasig City.

Incidentally, Ong sided with the Sandiganbayan ruling in 2010 that acquitted Napoles in the malversation cases filed against her over the military’s anomalous purchase of 500 Kevlar helmets in 1998.

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