The suspension of Overall Deputy Ombudsman Melchor Carandang by the Office of the President is a legal aberration, which, in the language of the Supreme Court in several decisions of similar import, is like “lawless thing that can be treated as an outlaw and slain on sight or ignored wherever and whenever it exhibits its head.”

President Rodrigo Duterte cannot defy prevailing jurisprudence and law that deny the President the power to impose disciplinary sanctions on the Ombudsman’s deputies.

Carandang’s 90-day suspension continues the pattern of blatant disregard of the Duterte administration of the rule of law.

In upholding the constitutionally-mandated independence of the Office of the Ombudsman, the Supreme Court in Gonzales vs. Office of the President in 2014 struck down as unconstitutional Section 8(2) of the Ombudsman Law (RA No. 6770) which erroneously gave the President the power to dismiss the Ombudsman’s deputies.

Moreover, no less than Sec. 5 of Article XI of the 1987 Constitution mandates the creation of “the independent Office of the Ombudsman, composed of the Ombudsman to be known as Tanodbayan, one overall Deputy and at least one Deputy each for Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. A separate Deputy for the military establishment may likewise be appointed.”

The Supreme Court also pronounced that “[w]hat is true for the Ombudsman must be equally and necessarily true for her Deputies who act as agents of the Ombudsman in the performance of their duties.”

As the Ombudsman’s agents, her deputies are accountable to her, not to the President.

EDCEL C. LAGMAN