(Eagle News)– The Office of the President has fired Deputy Ombudsman Melchor Arthur Carandang.
In its dismissal order signed by Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea, the OP said Carandang was guilty of graft and corruption, and betrayal of public trust, but dismissed the charges against Deputy Ombudsman for Mindanao Rodolfo Elman and members of the Ombudsman-Mindanao fact-finding team were dismissed for “lack of substantial evidence.”
In finding Carandang guilty, the OP noted that in September 2017, Carandang issued a statement to the media about the Ombudsman supposedly acquiring evidence of the “ill-gotten wealth” of President Rodrigo Duterte and his family in the form of bank transaction records from the Anti-Money Laundering Council.
Carandang, however, the OP noted, did not speak about the termination of the Ombudsman’s investigation into the President’s wealth.
“He was clearly only interested to broadcast an information adverse to the President. His keeping mum about an information that was favorable to the President clearly amounted to manifest partiality,” the OP said, noting that his intent was to “give undue advantage” to Senator Antonio Trillanes IV.
At that time, Trillanes had filed a plunder complaint against Duterte.
The OP said this was in violation also of Section 7 of RA 6713 that says that public officials “shall not use or divulge, confidential or classified information officially known to them by reason of their office and not made available to the public, either to further their private interests, or give undue advantage to anyone; or to prejudice the public interest.”
“These reasons support respondent Carandang’s liability under Section 3(e) of RA 3019, which penalizes the act of ‘giving any private party any unwarranted benefits, advantage or preference in the discharge of his official judicial and administrative functions through manifest partiality, evident bad faith, or gross inexcusable negligence,” the OP said.