Ombudsman rules: Ex-government exec 'disgraceful' for marrying 3 women

MANILA, Philippines - The Office of the Ombudsman has found a former official of the defunct National Amnesty Commission (NAC) guilty of grave, disgraceful, and immoral conduct for marrying three different women.

Though Ivanhoe Suico Reyes, a peace program officer of the agency abolished in March 2005, can no longer be sanctioned administratively as he is no longer in government, the anti-graft agency said its decision will be made part of the respondent’s record.

In a six-page decision, Ombudsman Ma. Merceditas Gutierrez, based on the recommendation of Graft Investigation and Prosecution Officer 1 Francine Faith Longid-Dalumpines, approved the penalty of one year suspension and disqualification from promotion on Reyes.

The administrative complaint against Reyes stemmed from a complaint filed by the Office of the Ombudsman’s Field Investigation Office (FIO).

Records of the National Statistics Office (NSO) showed that he first married Linda Fe Lozano Godinez in April 1984 at the age of 22.

Five years later, on April 1989 at age 27, he again walked the aisle with Delia Bacon before again marrying one Gertrudes Belarmino in December 2000.

NSO records show there is no record that Reyes’ first wife had died nor is there any proof that their marriage had been annulled.

“It is clear that the respondent contracted marriage three times,” the Office of the Ombudsman ruled, noting that Reyes’ act of entering into multiple marriages shows that he “conducted himself in a disgraceful and immoral manner and he must be held liable therefore.”