By Jeffrey G. Damicog Solicitor General Jose Calida reminded the Office of the Ombudsman (OMB) yesterday that it cannot claim independence since it is not even one of the three co-equal branches of government. “One thing is clear: The Office of the Ombudsman is not a fourth branch of government,” said Calida in a statement. The Solicitor General responded to the statements made by Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales who said President Duterte cannot suspend Overall Deputy Ombudsman (ODO) Melchor Carandang for the alleged unauthorized release of the chief executive’s bank transactions. “She sanctimoniously invoked a distorted interpretation of the Ombudsman’s independence to shield her office from accountability. This is a travesty of justice,” said Calida. The Solicitor General reminded Morales that she was the one who was supposed to investigate the bank transactions of the President. “She, however, recused herself and passed the baton to ODO Carandang to this task. But ODO bungled his job by exposing the President’s fake bank accounts,” he said. Bring it to court An opposition leader in the House of Representatives yesterday dared Carandang to bring the legal controversy over his 90-day suspension to the courts. In the meantime, Assistant Minority Leader and ABS Party-list Rep. Eugene de Vera said the OMB must implement the President’s suspension order as a ministerial duty of the anti-graft body. “The Ombudsman having no jurisdiction to rule on the validity of the 90-day preventive suspension order of the Office of the President has the ministerial duty to implement said order until stayed by the courts,” De Vera said. He added: “This policy is consistent with the implementation of orders made by the Ombudsman in adjudicating administrative cases versus erring public officials and employees.” According to De Vera the embattled deputy Ombudsman has two options to fight off the suspension. Either he can file a petition before the Supreme Court on a question of law or make an appeal to the Court of Appeals (CA) with prayer for a temporary restraining order or status quo ante order. Constitutional crisis? Meanwhile, Malacañang said a constitutional crisis is unlikely to break out despite the supposed standoff with the OMB over Carandang’s suspension. Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo said Carandang could always run to the SC to challenge the suspension order against him. The Palace, on the other hand, could also take legal steps to compel the deputy ombudsman to comply with the suspension for the unauthorized release of the President’s alleged bank records, Panelo added. “Wala iyang constitutional crisis, hindi naman tayo nagkaroon noon. Haka-haka lang iyan kasi si respondent Carandang definitely will go to the Supreme Court (There is no constitutional crisis. We never had that. That’s speculation because respondent Carandang definitely will go to the Supreme Court),” Panelo said in a recent radio interview. Panelo explained that the Supreme Court would only take action if a party brings a case before it. (With reports from Ben R. Rosario and Genalyn D. Kabiling)