By Genalyn D. Kabiling and Ben R. Rosario
A constitutional crisis is unlikely to break out despite a supposed standoff between Malacañang and the Ombudsman over the suspension of Overall Deputy Ombudsman Melchor Arthur Carandang, a Palace official said.
Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo said Carandang could always run to the Supreme Court to challenge the suspension order against him.
The Palace, on the other hand, could also take legal steps to compel the Overall Deputy Ombudsman to comply with the suspension for the unauthorized release of President Duterte’s alleged bank records, Panelo added.
“Wala iyang constitutional crisis, hindi naman tayo nagkaroon noon. Haka-haka lang iyan kasi si respondent Carandang definitely will go to the Supreme Court,” Panelo said.
“Kapag hindi siya nagpunta ng Supreme Court, puwedeng ang gobyerno ang pumunta to compel enforcement of the presidential suspension order,” he added.
Panelo explained that the Supreme Court would only take action if a party brings a case before it.
“Alam mo ang Korte Suprema, hindi iyan aaksyon hanggang walang umaakyat sa kanila at maghahabla. So hanggang hindi maging justiciable iyan, hindi subject for litigation, tatahimik lang ang mga iyan,” he said.
Senate Minority Leader Franklin M. Drilon earlier proposed the intervention of the SC to prevent a constitutional crisis over Ombudsman’s refusal to implement the suspension of Carandang.
Drilon said either the Palace or the Ombudsman could file a petition before the SC, the final arbiter of the law.
“The Supreme Court should immediately intervene. Otherwise, there could be a constitutional crisis amid “a conflict and a clash between two independent constitutional offices – the President and the Ombudsman,” the senator said.
Meanwhile, an opposition leader in the House of Representatives yesterday dared Carandang to bring the legal controversy over his 90-day suspension to the courts.
In the meantime, House Assistant Minority Leader and ABS party-list Rep. Eugene de Vera said the Ombudsman must implement Duterte’s suspension order as a ministerial duty of the anti-graft body.
“The Ombudsman, having no jurisdiction to rule on the validity of the 90-day preventive suspension order of the Office of the President, has the ministerial duty to implement said order until stayed by the courts,” De Vera said.
