August 19, 2024
MANILA – The two Senate committees ably chaired by Sen. Win Gatchalian and Sen. Risa Hontiveros and their counterpart House committees started ominously with their investigation of alleged criminal activities involving the Philippine offshore gaming operators (Pogos). Eventually, the focus riveted on the Pogos in Bamban, Tarlac that inevitably implicated young Bamban Mayor Alice Guo. Promptly, in his State of the Nation Address (Sona) last July 22, President Marcos, in an inspired off-script finale, announced the absolute ban of Pogos, to the applause of the assembled leaders and, later, the general public.
IN RAPID SUCCESSION, the Office of the Ombudsman (OMB), Office of the Solicitor General (OSG), Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), Commission on Elections (Comelec), Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC), National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), Bureau of Immigration (BI), and Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) dug deep into her origin, citizenship, wealth, liabilities, and right to hold public office.
Both Houses of Congress directly or via their respective committees may conduct inquiries “in aid of legislation” and may require the presence and testimony of any person. However, they can merely recommend criminal prosecutions and/or the recoveries of civil liabilities to the authorized government agencies. Nonetheless, they have the power to hold uncooperative witnesses in contempt and detain them as they have cited Guo in contempt for her repeated failure to honor their subpoena. More vitally, they recommended to the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the OMB the filing of criminal charges against the beleaguered town executive who, up to this writing, has eluded arrest and detention.
The President may act independently to safeguard the overarching public interest, as he had done in his recent Sona. Nonetheless, IMHO, he needs to issue an executive order detailing his ban. As chief executive, he has the power to modify or reverse the actions of his subalterns who issued the licenses of the Pogos.
The OSG is the official legal counsel of the Republic. It is also the “tribune of the people” in the sense that when, in its opinion, the government agency involved is in error, it could refuse to represent it. Citing its vast powers, the OSG brought a quo warranto suit in the Regional Trial Court of Manila (RTC) to oust Guo from the mayoralty and to bar her from holding public office perpetually due to her lack of Philippine citizenship and a fortiori her ineligibility to hold such office. The RTC’s decision may be appealed to the Court of Appeals (CA), thence to the Supreme Court.
COMES NOW THE OMB issuing an order suspending Guo as mayor and, in a subsequent order, removing her from her office. Under our Constitution, the independent OMB, as the “protectors of the people,” shall “investigate on its own, or on complaint by any person, any act or omission of any public official, employee, office, or agency, when such act or omission appears to be illegal, unjust, improper, or inefficient.” Actions of the OMB in administrative cases are appealable to the CA. Criminal cases are filed by the OMB in the Sandiganbayan.
Tax assessments levied by the BIR are appealable to the Court of Tax Appeals, thence to the Supreme Court. However, to sustain an appeal, the taxpayer must first pay the assessment in full. In Guo’s case, the amiable BIR Commissioner Romeo Lumagui Jr. went beyond mere tax assessments; he filed a criminal complaint for tax evasion in the DOJ versus the embattled mayor.
Despite Guo’s dismissal from the service by the OMB, the Comelec is investigating her for violations of election laws particularly for her alleged misrepresentation of her citizenship in her certificate of candidacy, a criminal offense. Not to be outdone, the BI has added her to its watch list with the possibility of immediate summary deportation while the NBI and PAOCC charged her with human trafficking. In turn, the AMLC convinced the CA to freeze her bank deposits and assets.
TWO FINAL COMMENTS. First, I suggest that a general coordinator be named by the President to harmonize these efforts and avoid conflicts. Example, if the BI succeeds in deporting her, how will she appear in Congress? How can she be prosecuted? Also, there could be duplications. For example, both the OMB and the OSG want to oust and disqualify her from holding future public offices.
Second, some officials are notorious for showing off when our people’s attention, especially media’s, is focused on their work but when the attention is shifted elsewhere, their diligence pitifully slows such that cases that were gloriously filed are conveniently forgotten. Worse, they are dismissed by the courts due to: (1) failure to prosecute or to prosecute dismally, whether intentionally or unintentionally, by presenting unauthenticated duplicates of vital documents; (2) sheer negligence and/or ignorance in observing the Rules of Court; (3) or the retirement or reassignment of the fired-up incumbents only to be replaced by lazy, contrarian, or unpatriotic denizens.
I fervently hope the unleashing of the Republic’s might will not sputter to an inglorious end.