‘Aguinaldo doctrine spares Ouano from disqualification’

With one criminal case  dismised, and one left to answer for  the 2007 lamppost scandal, former Mandaue City Mayor  Thadeo Ouano  faces  a lingering question about his status to occupy public office.

What happens to the penalty of perpetual disqualification from public office after the Ombudsman  found him guilty of grave misconduct for the deal in its Oct. 1, 2010 decision?

“That’s the issue we will look into,” said Assistant Ombudsman Virginia Palanca- Santiago when asked yesterday by a reporter.

“Let it be. Just read the decision.  I won’t comment about issues as this may be raised in court,” she said.

In the Oct. 1, 2010 decision, the anti-graft office  dismissed the administrative charge against Ouano, saying his re-election as Provincial Board member in the 2010 polls  was  “condonation of his previous msiconduct,” leaving the case “moot and academc.”

Ouano was a Mandaue City mayor at the time the lamposts purchase was made in 2007.

Ouano’s lawyer Victor Maambong Jr. in a separate interview said the issue  was  moot  with the administrative case dismissed by operation of the Aguinaldo Doctrine.

“It shoud not be reopened,” said Maamong, a former PB member representing Cebu’s 6th district, whose seat  Ouano now  occupies.

Under the Aguinaldo Doctrine,  a re-elected public official is spared the administrative liability for misconduct done  during his prior term . Reelection in effect condones the past lapses.

The lawyer reminded Santiago about the Ombudsman’s own ruling which declared the administrative penalties against Ouano   “moot”.

“The Aguinaldo Doctrine has not been ameded to Mabini or Rizal,” he pointed out.

“To be fair to a public servant, she should be precise in her pronouncements,” he said.

Maambong said the defense lawyers are focusing on one remaining criminal case against Ouano.

A second one was earlier dismissed by the Sandiganbayan.

The Aguinaldo Doctrine was the same principle cited in absolving administrative charges against rep. Arturo Radaza, former mayor of Lapu-Lapu City over the lamppost scam.

Nevertheless, Asssitant Ombudsman Santiago said the office was  wiling to conduct a fact-finding inquiry into  whether the penalty still applies to Ouano.

In 2008, Ouano was ordered dismissed from public service, disqualified from holding government position, and his benefits forfeited for grave misconduct in the purchase of the lampposts.

The decorative lampposts were used in the 2007 Association of Southeast Nations (Asean) summit in Cebu.

In 2008, when the ruling for dismissal was issued, Ouano was no longerin public office as his term as mayor was over.

Ouano served a preventive suspension order and left his post as city mayor of Mandaue City before the May 2007 elections.

Still the Ombudsman-Visayas said “the penalty imposed upon him be deemed implemented and accordingly reflected in his record of public service.”

“His subsequent re-election to office during the May 2010 elections operates as a condonation of his previous misconduct and has rendered the administrative charges against him moot and academic,” the anti-graft office said.

Santiago reaffirmed the Oct. 1 ruling yesterday when reporters sought a clarification on the verdict against Ouano.

But the possibility of re-evaluating whether Ouano is banned  from holding public office is there, she said.

The Ombudsman has furnished copies of their decisions to the Civil Service Commission, the Commission on Audit, and the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

Santiago said the Comelec wasn’t given a copy of their rulings before.

She said only the court can remove a public official who was earlier ordered perpetually disqualified from public office.

Usually, Santiago said parties who wanted to question the official’s stint in government have seven days since the public officer took his oath of office despite being disqualified from public service.

Last August, the Court of Appeals (CA) 19th division in Cebu City rejected the petition filed by 14 officials of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) who sought the reversal of the Ombudsman order dismissing them from service.

All were found guilty of grave misconduct by the Ombudsman-Visayas for the acquisition of lampposts.

The anti-graft office said the cost of each lamppost was expanded to nearly 10 times  its actual cost. /Ador Vincent Mayol, Reporter