00:00Vice President Sara Duterte's Ombudsman's action is not being seen as of yet.
00:06It should be investigated according to Ombudsman Samuel Martirez.
00:12He also has a vote from the official of the Justice Department
00:16that says that the Ombudsman should discipline the Vice President.
00:21Joseph Morong is on the case.
00:23Exclusive!
00:25The Office of the Ombudsman is also checking if Vice President Sara Duterte's vote
00:31against President Bongbong Marcos is worthy of their action.
00:36According to Ombudsman Samuel Martirez,
00:38this can only be done by his staff
00:40if the actions of the Vice President are done as part of his job.
00:46But for now...
00:47As far as we are concerned right now,
00:50we have not seen any acts of the Vice President that we should investigate.
00:54Well, we do not find anything that is in violation of one,
00:57the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act,
01:00of any of the offenses in the revised penal code
01:02that is in relation to the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.
01:05According to Justice Undersecretary Jess Andres,
01:10Vice President Sara Duterte also has the power to discipline and investigate the Ombudsman.
01:15Martirez said that if Andres will force the Ombudsman to investigate...
01:20I would advise Jose Andres to shut up.
01:25To stop talking about the case
01:27because one of the powers of the Ombudsman
01:30is to take over the investigation of a case
01:34of any government investigative agency
01:38at any stage of the proceedings.
01:40Martirez reminded Andres that section 15 of Republic Act 6770
01:46or Ombudsman Act of 1989
01:48has the power of the Ombudsman to investigate and prosecute
01:52any public officer, employee, employee of an agency
01:56and it can take over the investigation of any government agency.
02:02For example, right now, she's being investigated for ETA,
02:05Anti-Terror Law and Grave Threats.
02:08If the nature of the investigation is like that, can you take over?
02:12If we find that the Grave Threats is committed in relation to office,
02:16are these Grave Threats done in relation to the performance of her duties as Vice President?
02:22If not, that would be personal.
02:24And we have no jurisdiction over these things.
02:28We are listening to the statement of the Department of Justice.
02:32According to Ombudsman Martirez, aside from the investigation of the NBI and DOJ,
02:36the Ombudsman can also take over the investigation of the camera
02:40of Vice President Duterte.
02:42The House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability
02:46will use P650 million as confidential fund
02:51of the Office of the Vice President at the Department of Education.
02:54If we feel that we have jurisdiction over these cases,
03:00we can request Congress to please stop and we'll take over the investigation of the case.
03:05We can do that, but as a matter of courtesy,
03:08we belong to different departments, branch of government.
03:11As a matter of courtesy, we'll tell Congress.
03:14The chairman of the committee, Rep. Joe Alchua,
03:18said that this is not an investigation for a criminal case.
03:22For us, this is in aid of legislation.
03:24The nature of our case is in aid of legislation.
03:28That's why it's different.
03:30He also added that HECO-TIBO and LESLA-TIBO also have separation of powers.
03:34The father of Vice President, former President Rodrigo Duterte,
03:37appointed Martirez first in the Supreme Court as Associate Justice in 2017.
03:43In 2018, he was appointed as Ombudsman.
03:45If the Ombudsman takes over the investigation of the son of the former President,
03:50it's not because of his debt.
03:53I had never been close to President Duterte.
03:56I'm not close to the President.
03:58Never had been close to the President.
04:00During the six years term of the President,
04:04you can check the logbook of Malacanang how many times I've been there.
04:08For GMA Integrated News, Joseph Morong,
04:11for 24 Hours.
