Impeach raps vs ombudsman filed this week

MANILA, Philippines - An impeachment complaint is set to be filed against Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales this week.

The Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC), which supports President Duterte, will seek Morales’ ouster even if she has only a year left in her term.

A draft of the impeachment complaint obtained by The STAR accuses the ombudsman of betrayal of public trust and culpable violations of the Constitution. It cites as bases Morales’ alleged selective prosecution of cases and inordinate delays or failure to act on complaints filed before the anti-graft office.

Duterte himself slammed Morales for the supposed selective justice in the prosecution of plunder and graft cases, particularly the multibillion-peso pork barrel fund cases, calling it “detestable” in his speech last week.

He said her lack of fairness was evident in the graft charges related to the misuse of pork barrel funds slapped against former senators Jinggoy Estrada and Ramon Bong Revilla.

The VACC complaint also accused the ombudsman of filing weak cases involving the death of the 44 Special Action Force commandos in the Mamasapano encounter in January 2015 allegedy “in order to shield former president Benigno Aquino III from criminal liabilities.”

Last month, Morales approved the indictment of Aquino for usurpation of authority and graft, but cleared him in the reckless imprudence resulting in multiple homicide and injuries filed by relatives of the SAF 44.

The complaint also accuses Morales of defying the Supreme Court ruling that retrospectively abandoned the condonation doctrine, which clears reelected officials of administrative liabilities in charges from previous terms, in the case of Negros Oriental Gov. Roel Degamo.

The complaint to be filed by VACC founding chair Dante Jimenez and lawyer Pete Principe is expected to get endorsement of several congressmen when filed before the House of Representatives.

Last week, Duterte said he believes Morales’ stay in office may have violated the law as she was only supposed to continue the term of former ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez, who resigned from her post while facing impeachment threats in 2011.
The President said Morales was not entitled to a fresh seven-year term and was only supposed to finish the remaining one year in the term of Gutierrez.