The Office of the President is grossly mistaken when it based the suspension of Overall Deputy Ombudsman Melchor Arthur Carandang on a mere conjecture or vain hope that the Supreme Court will reverse the decision in the Gonzales case wherein it was ruled that the President has no disciplinary authority over the deputies of the Ombudsman.
The decisions of the Supreme Court are part of the law of the land, which the President is sworn to protect and uphold.
It is immaterial that the Congress has the final say on what the consultative committee will recommend because the two run parallel lines along the federalism agenda of President Rodrigo Duterte.
The consultative committee will recommend what the President wants on the shift to a federal system, while the Congress will propose amendments which the President requires in shifting to a federal form of government.
Not everything is alarming in the calamity operations due to the ongoing eruption of Mayon Volcano.
The bright side is that the success of family planning, a core agenda of the Reproductive Health Law, is documented in the reduced family size of evacuees in the First District of Albay according to Rep. Edcel C. Lagman, the principal author of the RH Law.
Despite two bodies consisting of the Congress and the Consultative Committee discharging duplicating roles of reviewing the 1987 Constitution, any fear that “two many cooks will spoil the broth” is foreclosed because the principal chef in Malacañang controls the recipe.
The Congress, which is mainly subservient to the President, and the Consultative Committee recently constituted by the President, are expected to endorse President Rodrigo Duterte’s insistent call for the adoption of a federal system.
Rep. Edcel C. Lagman, the lead petitioner in the petition of the Magnificent 7 assailing the yearlong extension of martial law and suspension of the writ of habeas corpus, told the Supreme Court in a 32-page memorandum filed today that “Proclamation No. 216 on the declaration of martial law and suspension of the writ in Mindanao has become functus officio or its mission has been fully accomplished”.
The opposition lawmaker underscored that the liberation of Marawi City from terrorists and their influence which was declared by President Rodrigo Duterte on October 27, 2017 and the subsequent cessation of combat operations announced by martial law administrator and Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana rendered Proclamation No. 216 dated May 23, 2017 functus officio.
