MANILA, Philippines — Members of the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) and its counsel, former Negros Oriental representative Jacinto “Jing” Paras, along with other individuals, have again pushed for the ouster of Conchita Carpio-Morales by submitting to the House of Representatives an impeachment complaint against the ombudsman.
However, the complaint was not yet considered filed as of Wednesday, December 13, because no House member had endorsed it yet.
The complaint alleges that Carpio-Morales committed betrayal of public trust, graft and corruption, and culpable violation of the Constitution.
Since January this year, the VACC has been pushing for Morales’s ouster over the then failure of her office to file multiple homicide charges against former President Benigno Aquino and others over the death of 44 members of the elite Philippine National Police’s Special Action Force in the Mamasapano clash.
Last November, Morales’ office filed graft and usurpation of authority charges against Aquino over the Jan. 25, 2015 anti-terror operation in Mamasapano, Maguindanao but dropped for lack of evidence the charges of reckless imprudence resulting in homicide filed by the families of the slain SAF troopers against the former top leader.
Last August, the VACC also submitted a complaint against the ombudsman but it failed to take off due to lack of endorsers from the House.
In their 94-page complaint submitted on Wednesday, Morales’ accusers allege that the ombudsman betrayed public trust when she allegedly showed biased for Aquino in the Mamasapano case.
They also claim that Morales again betrayed public trust when she allegedly displayed prejudice in her decision to clear the former chief executive of any responsibility in the illegal release of P72-billion fund from the Disbursement Acceleration Program.
Besides Paras, the other complainants are former VACC chair Martin Diño, who also used to head the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority; former Metro Rail Transit-3 general manager Al Vitangcol; former Biliran representative Glenn Chong; Tanggulang Demokrasya Inc. represented by Evelyn Kilayko and Teresita Baltazar and Vanguard of the Philippine Constitution Inc. represented by Atty. Eligio Mallari.
Juan Rana and relatives of the slain SAF troopers Felicitas Nacino, Edna Tabdi, Julie Danao, and Leo Balicdan were also among the complainants.
They also accuse Morales of the following allegedly impeachable acts:
–Betrayal of public trust for conspiring with her over-all deputy, Melchor Arthur Carandang, in divulging information pertaining to the alleged bank transactions of President Rodrigo Duterte and his family
–Graft and corruption and betrayal of public trust for not recusing herself from the Statement of Assets Liabilities and Net worth cases of Dino V. Salceda and approving the dismissal of the said cases. Salceda’s lawyer in the cases is Lucas Carpio, the brother of Morales and the father of presidential son-in-law Manases Carpio.
–Culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust for failing to act promptly on complaints
–Betrayal of public trust for practicing selective justice or indulging in selective prosecution