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| Senator Trillanes and Palace Spokesman Roque photofile (ctto) |
Manila, Philippines – On Tuesday, Presidential Spokesman
Harry Roque challenged Senator Antonio Trillanes to go ahead and file the complaint
against President Rodrigo Duterte over suspension of Carandang.
Roque said that if Trillanes thinks that suspension of
Overall Deputy Ombudsman Melchor Arthur Carandang is an impeachable offense, he
should go ahead.
“Go ahead, file impeachment. Do it as soon as possible and
we will see you in the House (of Representatives),” Roque said in response to a
statement of Trillanes.
On Monday, Carandang was formally charged by the Office of the
Executive Secretary (OES) and placed under 90-day preventive suspension due to grave
misconduct and dishonesty “for misuse of
confidential information and disclosing false information” over the alleged
bank records of the Duterte family.
According to Trillanes, the suspension of Carandang was against
the Section 5 of Article XI of the 1987 Constitution, which he said, “clearly
states the independence of the Office of the Ombudsman and its Deputies.”
He added that the Supreme Court already affirmed in 2014
that the Palace has no power to serve disciplinary action to any Ombudsman
deputies.
“Clearly, this is another Duterte tactic that’s meant to
bully democratic institutions into submission so he could go on with his
dictatorial and corrupt ways,” Trillanes said.
Roque on the other hand, insisted that the Office of the
President’s jurisdiction over the Deputy Ombudsman is within the Constitution,
adding that the Overall Deputy Ombudsman Carandang may seek help from any
competent court.
“The OES, however, stands by its decision to formally charge
and suspend Overall Deputy Ombudsman Carandang, pursuant to the President’s
broad powers to discipline all non-impeachable presidential appointees,” Roque told
the press.
Carandang claimed that all his documents showing the money
flow from credit and debits were acquired through the AMLC, the said bank records
were similar to what Trillanes allegedly obtained from the AMLC.
However, the AMLC had denied that it released any bank
records of the Duterte family to either Carandang or Trillanes.
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