‘Ombudsman can’t probe Comelec execs’

Commission on Elections Chairman Benjamin Abalos and three commissioners are not expected to show up in today’s clarificatory hearing before the Office of the Ombudsman on the voided P1.3-billion poll automation contract after a lawyer for one of the officials insisted that the anti-graft agency has no jurisdiction over top Comelec officials.

In an 11-page manifestation submitted yesterday to the Ombudsman, lawyer Gabriel Villareal cited the Supreme Court (SC) decisions on Lecaroz vs Sandiganbayan and Cuenco vs Fernan, which he said made it clear that the Constitution bars the removal from office of constitutional officers by any other method other than impeachment.

Villareal represents Commissioner Resurreccion Borra, whose impeachment was recommended by the Ombudsman for the aborted poll automation contract.

Based on these rulings, the Office of the Ombudsman is "bereft of authority" except to dismiss the complaints principally against the chairman and members of the Comelec, Villareal said.

He said the SC has ruled several times that under the Constitution, the House of Representatives has the sole power to investigate impeachable officials.

"Chairman Abalos and the rest of the Comelec commissioners would be doing their office and our people a great disservice if they submit themselves to a probe by an investigating body which clearly and by its own admission has no authority over impeachable officials," he said.

Villareal said "a wrong precedent will undermine the Comelec as an institution" if Abalos and the other Comelec officials submit themselves to the Office of the Ombudsman for investigation.

"Submitting themselves to the jurisdiction of the (Office of the) Ombudsman despite the clear want or absence of authority, popular as it may seem in the near term, is setting a wrong precedent that will certainly undermine their office as well as the Comelec as an institution," he said.

Villareal cautioned the Office of the Ombudsman against probing Comelec officials prior to any impeachment proceeding before the House of Representatives.

"Otherwise, to allow a public officer who may be removed solely by impeachment to be charged criminally while holding office with an offense that carries the penalty of removal from office, would be violative of the clear mandate of the fundamental law," he said.

Villareal said the decision of the Office of the Ombudsman to recommend the filing of an impeachment complaint against Borra and the further investigation on the other Comelec officials is a violation of due process as the probe is still incomplete.

"It appears that the proceedings are still incomplete and the findings, if any, are inconclusive," he said.

"There can be no clearer case of violation of due process. We cannot discount the possibility that the conduct of a more exhaustive investigation before the decision was issued could have yielded evidence and conclusions favorable to the respondents."

Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. urged yesterday the Office of the Ombudsman to disregard the argument of Abalos and the three Comelec commissioners they could not be investigated or criminally prosecuted unless they are first impeached.

"The Constitution does not say that impeachment must first be resorted to so that erring Comelec commissioners may be subjected to the penalties of the law," he said.

Citing judicial precedents in the United States and the Philippines, Pimentel said there is no legal impediment to look into the involvement of Comelec officials in the P1.3-billion poll automation contract with the MegaPacific Consortium.

Pimentel, one of the complainants in the cases against the Comelec officials, also asked the Office of the Ombudsman to prevent the issuance of clearances to the respondent Comelec commissioners for purposes of retirement or resignation.

The Office of the Ombudsman must officially request the Commission on Audit not to issue such clearances, which are required before retirement or separation pensions and other benefits can be paid, he added.

Borra and the other Comelec commissioners, including Abalos who have been summoned by the Office of the Ombudsman, did not appear during the first day of hearing last Thursday.

The lawyers for the summoned commissioners have also questioned the jurisdiction of the specially created investigation panel headed by Overall Deputy Ombudsman Orlando Casimiro to probe the summoned Comelec officials being impeachable officials.

Earlier, Special Prosecutor Dennis Villa-Ignacio, a member of the Office of the Ombudsman’s investigating panel told reporters that they would resolve the issue of their jurisdiction over the Comelec officials before the next round of hearings tomorrow.

The public clarificatory hearings on the voided poll automation deal between the Comelec and the MegaPacific consortium are held every Thursday starting at 10 am.

Last June 30, the Office of the Ombudsman issued a 34-page resolution recommending the filing of impeachment proceedings against Borra, who was project head for Phase II of the poll automation project.

In a resolution, the Office of the Ombudsman ordered the dismissal of Eduardo Mejos, Comelec bids and awards committee chairman; and BAC members Jose Balbuena Jr., Lamberto Llamas, Bartolome Sinocruz, and Gideon de Guzman after they were found guilty of committing grave misconduct and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service.

Graft charges were also filed by the Office of the Ombudsman against private respondents Willy Yu, Bonnie Yu, Enrique Tansipek, Rosita Tansipek, Pedro Tan, Johnson Fong, Bernard Fong and Lauriano Barrios, all of the MegaPacific eSolutions Inc. (MPEI).

On the other hand, the Office of the Ombudsman cleared Comelec officials Jaime Paz, and Zita Buena-Castillon and the Department of Science and Technology officials Jose Tolentino and Rolando Viloria for lack of sufficient evidence.

Summoned by the Office of the Ombudsman to appear in the clarificatory hearings were complainants Kilosbayan Foundation and Bantay Katarungan Foundation and Pimentel and respondent Comelec officials.

The Comelec officials are Abalos and Commissioners Borra, Sadain and Florentino Tuason; retired commissioners Tancangco and Lantion; BAC chairman Mejos and members Balbuena, Llamas, Sinocruz and De Guzman; and incorporators of the MegaPacific eSolutions Willy and Bonnie Yu, Enrique Tansipek, Pedro Tan, Johnson Fong and Lauriano Barrios.

Last Wednesday, the SC ordered the Office ofthe Ombudsman to complete its investigation on the voided poll automation project within 45 days. — With Christina Mendez