Corrupt officials

BEHIND THE SCENES

Alfred P. Dizon

Government officials, after the conviction of Chief Justice Renato Corona, are apprehensive about the scope of the Ombudsman’s powers.

           

Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales played a major role in nailing down Corona after she presented data supplied by the Anti-Money Laundering Council on the extent of the impeached Chief Justice’s dollar accounts.

           

Now, government officials are quaking with fear on the extent of her powers and with the ease she was able to secure information from the AMLC. 

           

If Morales can, on the basis of a citizen’s complaint and without a court order, extract sensitive information from the AMLC, they might find themselves in the same predicament as Corona.

           

Under the Ombudsman Act of 1989 (Republic Act 6770, private individuals may be investigated by the Ombudsman if there are reasons to believe they acted in connivance with government officials in commission of irregularities and violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

           

According to legal luminaries, this authority rests on the principle that in a conspiracy, the act of one is the act of all. Private persons who made possible, facilitated or contributed to the commission of unlawful acts by government employees are equally liable to the penal sanctions imposed by law for their co-conspirators in government.

           

Thus, if private businessmen and members of the bids and awards committee of a government office acted together to rig a public bidding for the procurement of products or services, all of them can be investigated by the Ombudsman despite the fact that the latter’s principal mandate is to prosecute erring government personnel.

           

According to legal luminaries, following the same principle of liability in conspiratorial acts, private persons and government employees involved can, if the evidence warrants, be jointly prosecuted before the Sandiganbayan or regular court, depending on the salary grade of the latter.

           

Legal experts say in court assignment, cases filed against government officials who hold supervisory or managerial positions are head by the Sandiganbayan while the rest are brought before regular courts.

           

If the Ombudsman was able to run after Corona, through the AMLC documents, to disprove what Corona reported in his Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN), government officials have reason to be apprehensive.

           

Those in government, particularly in holding elective positions, have aired their apprehension that some enterprising groups or individuals could go after them by harassing them through the SALN or the Ombudsman and using these for political, monetary or other unsavory purposes.

           

But then, if one is a law abiding citizen, one need not fear such tactics or harassment as one would be proven untainted in the end.

           

However, considering the imperfect justice system of this Banana Republic which is often perceived as corrupt, one can’t blame the blameless and the upright for their apprehensions.