MANILA, Philippines – The Supreme Court (SC) upheld its earlier decision striking down a provision in the Ombudsman law that prohibits any court, aside from the SC, from issuing orders that would delay investigations conducted by the Ombudsman.
In its en banc session on Tuesday, April 12, the SC denied the motion for reconsideration filed by Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales on the High Court's verdict issued in November last year, which upheld the Court of Appeals (CA)'s power to stop decisions issued by the Office of the Ombudsman.
In March 2015, the Ombudsman ordered the preventive suspension of now-dismissed Makati Mayor Jejomar Erwin Binay Jr due to corruption allegations against him over a controversial Makati building.
Binay took his case to the CA, citing the so-called condonation doctrine, which says that a reelected official is absolved of administrative liability committed while he or she was in office.
The CA ruled in his favor. But the Ombudsman questioned the CA's power to stop its suspension order, citing Section 14 of Republic Act 6770 or the Ombudsman Act of 1989.
Section 14 read: "No writ of injunction shall be issued by any court to delay an investigation being conducted by the Ombudsman under this Act, unless there is a prima facie evidence that the subject matter of the investigation is outside the jurisdiction of the Office of the Ombudsman."
In its November 2015 decision, the SC struck this provision as unconstitutional. In the same decision the High Court also nullified the condonation doctrine. – Rappler.com