‘Ombudsman Has No Jurisdiction’ — Bebot

Cebu City North District Rep. Rodrigo “Bebot” Abellanosa said the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas has no jurisdiction to investigate the cases filed against him, saying it is the Congress that should handle these.

“For the administrative case, we are raising the jurisdictional issue that it is not the Ombudsman but Congress that should investigate a congressman. The Ombudsman Act is clear that it has disciplinary authority over elective and appointive officials except impeachable officials, members of Congress, and the Judiciary,” said Abellanosa.

Abellanosa said it is the same reason they cited in his motion for reconsideration filed shortly after the anti-graft office released its two rulings not favorable to the first-term congressman. The Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas, which found the congressman guilty of grave misconduct, ordered Abellanosa’s dismissal from public office. The said office said there is conflict of interest when Abellanosa, being one of the Cebu City councilors, approved the city’s scholarship program wherein his schools, Asian College of Technology (ACT) and the Asian College of Technology International Education Foundation Inc. (ACTIEF), have benefited.

But Abellanosa said that his election to public office last 2013 “makes the complaint… moot and academic.”

He said there is also “no personal gain or material interest derived by a trustee or officer in a non-stock non-profit corporation,” in reference to ACTIEF.

“There can be no misconduct here and no liability for helping improve the chances of less fortunate students at success, and for following the guidelines provided in the Local Government Code,” he said.

As to the criminal case, which the Ombudsman found probable cause, the congressman maintained the same reason, that “there is no personal gain or material interest derived by a trustee or officer in a non-stock non-profit corporation,” and that if “no part of its income is distributable as dividends.”

Abellanosa also it was the Cebu City scholars who choose the school they want to enroll in.

“Together with other accredited schools, ACTIEF was required by executive order of the Mayor (Mike Rama) to accept Cebu City Scholars, who were armed only with scholarship vouchers and who were at liberty to choose the accredited school they wanted to enroll in,” he said.

Image Credit: GMA Public Affairs