Of course, Deputy House Speaker Gwendolyn Garcia was bound to question her permanent disqualification from public office by the Ombudsman over her liability for Cebu province’s questionable backfilling of the Balili lots in Naga City when she headed the province.
To Garcia, her removal from office and ban from any government position smacks of maneuvering to stop Lower House hearings in search of evidence against the Chief Justice whom allies of the President wish to oust.
This spin is difficult if not impossible to believe not only because there are neither obvious nor rumored reasons to even speculate that the Chief Justice and Ombudsman have some pact to watch each other’s backs.
More realities raise questions to Garcia’s slant.
First, even if a miracle happens and House leaders expel Garcia, this would not stop members of the justice committee from fishing for evidence in aid of sacrificing our lead magistrate on Malacañang’s altar.
Second, even if the Ombudsman found a cause to penalize with removal from office every last congressman in the justice committee, they, as Garcia is, will be assured of the protection of the House Speaker.
It seems that the only way for Garcia to see and believe that the impeachment of Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno is not contingent on her perseverance as a member of Congress would be for the House of Representatives to enforce the Ombudsman’s order.
Still, the order ought to be enforced, not as a means of rebutting Garcia’s cynicism.
Had her disbarment from the government been served earlier, she would still find a reason to question it’s timing in relation to due process that entails meticulous, time-consuming evaluation of her case’s merits.
Imposing the penalty against her would demonstrate that lawmakers are not insulated from the rule of law.
House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez thinks nothing in the Constitution commands him to execute the Ombudsman’s order because the Charter empowers each chamber of the legislature to formulate rules for its members, including penalties like expulsion.
This however, is an eisegesis of fracture into the Constitution rather than a reading of it as a harmonious document.
The leeway given to legislators should not be interpreted as doing away with the Constitution’s empowerment of the Ombudsman to direct leaders like Alvarez to anathemize members when appropriate.
If a deadlock between the Ombudsman and the Lower House persists, it will be up to the Commission on Elections to put teeth to the penalty of perpetual disqualification from public office for Garcia who has refused to discuss the merits of the Ombudsman’s finding: that she allegedly committed grave misconduct.
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