Palace denies Deputy Ombudsman Carandang’s appeal

Melchor Arthur Carandang —INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang has denied the appeal of Deputy Ombudsman Melchor Carandang to reverse his dismissal order.

“We confirm that the Office of the President (OP) denied Carandang’s Motion for Reconsideration,” Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea said in a text message to INQUIRER.net

“We denied his MR because it presented the same argument contesting the jurisdiction of OP, which we already found unpersuasive based on reasons thoroughly explained in our earlier decision dismissing him from the service,” Medialdea added.

READ: Malacañang fires Deputy Ombudsman Carandang

He said the OP “also found his belated attempts to explain his misleading disclosures to the media, which was the basis of the charges against him, to be similarly unpersuasive.”

“We carefully considered his explanations but found them to be mere afterthoughts and to be overly reliant on technicalities that do not even apply to administrative cases being heard by the Office of the President. In short, none of his arguments warranted a reversal of our findings in the earlier decision,” he said.

Medialdea said “the Ombudsman will have to declare the position of ODO (Office of the Deputy Ombudsman) vacant then the JBC will declare the position open for nomination,” he said.

In August 2018, Malacañang fired Carandang from service for graft and corruption and betrayal of public trust.

The dismissal order of Carandang stemmed from complaints against him over disclosures to the media about information on the alleged unexplained wealth of President Rodrigo Duterte and members of his family.  (Editor: Julie Espinosa)