Ombudsman not afraid of Rody but…

Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/NIÑO JESUS ORBETA

Who’s afraid of “The Punisher?”

Definitely not the equally feisty Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales, who dismissed on Thursday as loose talk the warning of presumptive President-elect Rodrigo Duterte that he would execute corrupt public officials and dump their bodies in Manila Bay.

“Those were just his wisecracks during the election period and that’s what clicked. I think people wanted to hear something different. It’s a phenomenon that he made,” she told a news conference.

“He being a lawyer, I know he will observe the rule of law,” Morales said.

But the usually tough-talking Morales sounded rather tame when replying to questions about Duterte who, she admitted, was related to her through her brother, Davao Regional Trial Court Judge Lucas Carpio.

Lucas Carpio is the father-in-law of Duterte’s daughter, Sara Duterte-Carpio, who was elected as mayor of Davao City.

Morales, a retired Supreme Court justice, surmised that Duterte’s controversial statements, which raised not a few eyebrows during the campaign, “attracted people who voted for him.”

“But whether he would actually implement them remains to be seen,” Morales said.

The country’s top graft buster also sought to assure the public that the Ombudsman would pursue its investigation on the plunder case filed by Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, a losing vice presidential candidate, against Duterte regarding his alleged hiring of “ghost” employees.

Immune from suit

Morales, however, said her office could only investigate and not prosecute Duterte since he would be immune from suit once he is sworn in as President on June 30.

She said the Ombudsman would just forward the results of its investigation to the Congress since a sitting President may only be unseated through impeachment.

“Under the law, the Ombudsman will still continue investigating an impeachable officer only for the purpose of determining whether gross or grave misconduct has been committed,” she said.

Morales, who will step down from office in August 2018, also expressed confidence that Duterte would not dare dip his hands in the affairs of the antigraft body.

“I think he knows that I’m impervious to influence. He will not try to interfere with my work,” she told the Inquirer.

But as in the other cases involving the Duterte family, Morales said she would inhibit herself from all investigation proceedings involving the incoming President.

“I think relationship is not a factor in the disposition of cases or in the investigation of cases,” she said. “[Duterte] has been very vocal about fighting corruption. I don’t see any reason why he should renege from his announced plan of running after corrupt government officials.”

Morales said there was nothing wrong with Duterte’s statement that he was not keen on pursuing the prosecution of Vice President Jejomar Binay and President Aquino.

“He’s not the prosecutor so he’s right,” she said. “It is the Office of the Ombudsman that initiates charges or, if it does not motu propio file charges, receives complaints and gives due course to complaints if warranted.”

The Ombudsman has recommended the filing of graft charges against Binay in connection with the alleged overpriced construction of the  Makati City Hall Building II when he was the mayor there.

Calls have also been made for the prosecution of Mr. Aquino for plunder in the alleged misuse of congressional pork barrel funds.

Morales said her office planned to pursue the case against Binay at the end of his term when his immunity from suits expires.

As to whether Binay would be jailed or not, Morales said: “If the charges are bailable and he posts bail, he will not be incarcerated. But if the charges are nonbailable and the evidence is strong, whether or not he will go to jail would depend on how the Sandiganbayan, or any court for that matter, determines.”

Frivolous, baseless

Binay’s spokesperson Rico Quicho said in a statement on Thursday that Morales had not been fair with the Vice President.

“She had ignored evidence, due process and the law to harass Vice President Binay while she turned a blind eye on the complaints against the allies and party mates of the current administration,” Quicho said in a statement.

He said that in a fair and impartial venue, the cases against Binay would be dismissed “for being frivolous and baseless.”

“We shall exert all legal remedies to prove the Ombudsman wrong,” Quicho said. With a report from Christine O. Avendaño