Pimentel to Ombudsman: Let Binay invoke immunity from suit
The Ombudsman should just file the cases against Vice President Jejomar Binay and let him contest it and invoke his immunity from suit, according to Sen. Koko Pimentel. INQUIRER.net PHOTO
The Office of the Ombudsman should file a graft case against Vice President Jejomar Binay in connection with the alleged overpricing of Makati City Hall Building II and just let him contest it and invoke immunity from suit, Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III said on Tuesday.
This was contrary to the Ombudsman’s position that the Vice President was immune from criminal suit.
“I heard the explanation of the spokesperson that they will not file the case against the VP until his term ends, so that means they are subscribing to the theory that the VP has immunity from suit,” Pimentel said in a phone patch interview with Senate reporters.
“What they should have done instead is file the case and let him contest the suit, because the vice president’s immunity from suit is not provided for in the Constitution.”
The senator said it seemed that the Ombudsman was subscribing to the theory that all impeachable officials, like the Vice President, were immune from criminal prosecution.
“What will happen is that it will be left to a private citizen to contest the theory of the Ombudsman that the Vice President is immune from suit,” he said.
“I hope they just file the case against the Vice President and let him question the suit. So it’s the VP now, upholding his claimed immunity from suit. That’s what should have been done but it won’t happen because obviously the Office of the Ombudsman believes that the Vice President is immune from suit. I disagree.”
Pimentel said the problem was that the Office of the Ombudsman was restraining itself and being conservative in its approach to Binay’s supposed immunity.
“They are recognizing the Vice President’s immunity from suit. That’s what’s happening. It’s the prosecutor who’s saying there’s immunity from suit,” he said.
Pimentel pointed out that while there was a categorical statement in the 1973 Constitution that the president had immunity from suit, there was no mention about the vice president.
But even that statement pertaining to the president, he said, was deleted in the new Constitution.
He said a private citizen could file a mandamus case at the Court of Appeals to force the Office of the Ombudsman to file the case against Binay.
Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV had also said he did not agree with the Ombudsman.
“I believe that if you commit a crime, you can be charged. You don’t necessarily have to be removed from your post,” Trillanes said in a separate interview, citing the case of his colleagues who remained senators despite facing plunder and graft charges in connection with the pork barrel scam.
“It can also be done to the Vice President because, like I said, what if he kills a person now, does that mean he can’t be charged? That’s not right. You can charge and detain him, but you can’t remove him from his post unless you impeach him,” Trillanes said.
“Unlike in the case of the president, the immunity is clear. It’s very explicit in the Constitution. But for the vice president, it’s not clear.”
It was Trillanes who initiated the Senate probe against the Binays. Pimentel, on the other hand, was the chair of the Senate blue ribbon subcommittee that investigated the controversy. Maila Ager/RC
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