Ombudsman says it cannot investigate VP Sara over threat vs PBBM

The Office of the Ombudsman has asserted that it cannot suspend nor investigate Vice President Sara Duterte over her kill threat to President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. because it was "personal in nature" and had nothing to do with her office.

In an interview with DAILY TRIBUNE, Ombudsman Samuel Martires said that although his office has the sole authority to exercise such actions, as of now, he cannot find any grounds to acquire jurisdiction in the said case or launch a motu proprio inquiry into Duterte's supposed threat.

"Considering that these cases are personal in nature, it should be the Department of Justice (DoJ), not us," he told the paper.

"We have the authority to suspend, to investigate any government official or employee, but with respect to this particular instance, we do not find it as related to the office," he added.

An enraged Duterte openly announced last week that she had already instructed someone to assassinate the President, First Lady Liza Marcos, and Speaker Martin Romualdez if the supposed plot against her succeeded amid what she called the continuing political attacks against her by administration allies.

The DoJ said Duterte may be charged for potential violations of Republic Act 11479 or the Anti-Terrorism Law, libel, defamation, and grave threats, among others.

Earlier, Justice Undersecretary Jese Andres said that only the Ombudsman has the power to suspend the second-highest official of the land, not Marcos himself.

Aside from suspension, the VP, according to Andres, could also face disqualification from public office if found guilty of violating RA 11479.

Martires countered that while he can indeed take over any case at any stage of proceedings, including that of Duterte, he has yet to find anything to probe.

One of the functions vested in the Ombudsman is to investigate offenses such as illegal, unjust, improper, or inefficient acts committed in relation to office.

But Martires contended that "not all offenses committed by high-ranking government officials will be under the jurisdiction of the Ombudsman," especially if the offense lacks connection with their performance in duty.

Further, Martires emphasized that suspending the VP would be highly infeasible, citing a Supreme Court ruling on ex-Justice Secretary Raul Gonzales that an impeachable officer cannot be charged with criminal, civil, or administrative offenses that carry the penalty of removal from office during their incumbency.

"So, the Supreme Court said, impeach them first before you sue them. So it's still impossible now to suspend the Vice President in view of this decision," Martires pointed out, although Andres argued that this case does not apply to Duterte.

However, he said that he could only take the necessary action against Duterte if the Commission on Audit filed a case against her for graft or loss of disbursement in relation to the alleged misuse of the Office of the Vice President’s confidential funds.

"For now, it's still a long way because it was merely a notice of disallowance. A notice of disallowance is not yet final and is still appealable to the regional director and to the en banc of CoA," he said.

Martires was named associate justice of the SC in 2017 by Duterte’s father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, before he was appointed Ombudsman in 2018.

But he denied that it had anything to do with his stance on the VP’s case.

Duterte has been at the center of a congressional probe into the purported irregularities in the use of P612.5 million in confidential funds allocated to the OVP (P500 million) and the Department of Education (P112.5 million) in 2022 and 2023 during her stint as its secretary.

State auditors flagged a significant portion of the secret funds and even disallowed P73.287 million of the P125 million that the OVP spent in merely 11 days during the last quarter of 2022, Duterte’s first year in office.

Unlike the President, the VP is not immune from lawsuits, leaving her open to criminal charges while in office.

However, veteran election lawyer Romulo Macalintal contended that the VP should also be eligible for such immunity, considering that both the President and the VP are impeachable officials.