Jury still out on Justice Ong, SC says

Sandiganbayan Associate Justice Gregory Ong. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines–The Supreme Court has yet to decide on the case of Sandiganbayan Justice Gregory Ong, the magistrate recommended for dismissal for allegedly fixing a case in favor of businesswoman Janet Lim Napoles, the alleged mastermind of the P10-billion congressional pork barrel scam.

Theodore Te, the high court spokesman, said no decision was made on the case during Tuesday’s en banc session.

Court insiders earlier told the Inquirer that the high tribunal members believe that Ong is guilty and are only debating on whether to dismiss or merely suspend him.

Ong protested the Inquirer report as “trial by publicity” done in “wanton violation” of his rights.

He said the results of the investigation conducted by retired Associate Justice Angelina Sandoval-Gutierrez were “only recommendatory” but did not comment on the merits of the administrative case against him, in deference to the high court’s directives that the proceedings “be private and confidential.”

In the report she submitted last May, Gutierrez recommended that Ong be dismissed and charged administratively for gross misconduct, dishonesty and impropriety for allegedly acquitting Napoles and the other accused in a graft and malversation case in exchange for money.

In recommending his dismissal, Gutierrez said Ong’s “serious transgressions” had “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 made her recommendations based on the testimonies of scam whistle-blowers Benhur Luy and Marina Sula during the Senate investigation into the pork barrel, officially known as the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), scam.

Luy and Sula said Ong visited Napoles in her Ortigas office at least two times in 2012. During one of those visits, Napoles gave Ong 11 checks amounting to a total of P3.10 million, Luy testified.

Ong has been accused of accepting a payoff to clear Napoles and other accused, including her husband, retired Army Maj. Jaime Napoles, in a case involving the anomalous purchase of Kevlar helmets for the Marines worth P3.8 million in 1998.

Napoles and the other accused were acquitted “for failure of the prosecution to prove their guilt beyond reasonable doubt.”

Ong handed down the verdict some nine years after the Ombudsman indicted Napoles and her coaccused on graft and malversation charges.

As in the pork barrel scam where Napoles allegedly gained access to legislators’ pork with the use of bogus NGOs, the businesswoman allegedly used fake and dummy companies to get the helmets supply contract.

Apart from Ong’s dismissal, Gutierrez recommended the forfeiture of all of Ong’s “retirement benefits, excluding accrued leave credits, and with prejudice to reemployment in any government office, including government-owned or -controlled corporations.”