The Philippine Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) is afflicted with congenital infirmity because President Rodrigo Duterte created it out of spite and vengeance.

It is flawed from the beginning since no less than Duterte himself projected the establishment of the PACC after the Ombudsman ordered the investigation of the unexplained wealth of Duterte and his family.

Aside from being born out of reprisal, the PACC violates the Constitution and R.A. No. 6770 or the “Ombudsman Act of 1989” which operationalized the Office of the Ombudsman, for illegally duplicating and intruding into the authority and powers of the Ombudsman to investigate public officials and employees, including those in the military and police establishments, for graft as basis for prosecution or impeachment.

In the inordinate rush to create the PACC, it was overlooked that the President does not have any jurisdiction, through the PACC, to investigate presidential appointees, like the Ombudsman and her deputies as well as the principal officials of constitutional bodies, who are outside of the Executive Department and beyond the reach of the President’s power of supervision and control.

EDCEL C. LAGMAN