Palace fires first official for August 23 hostage massacre

Malacañang on Friday announced the dismissal from service of Deputy Ombudsman Emilio Gonzalez III for gross neglect of duty for the alleged mishandling of the case of Inspector Rolando Mendoza, who held hostage Chinese tourists last year. Communications Strategy Secretary Ricky Carandang said Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. signed the dismissal papers of Gonzalez on Tuesday. Under the Ombudsman Act, according to Carandang, the Office of the President can remove the deputy Ombudsman from office. The Ombudsman herself, however, as a constitutional officer cannot be removed except by conviction in a Senate impeachment trial, which is set to begin for the current Ombudsman, Merceditas Gutierrez, on May 9. Mendoza's case before the Ombudsman Mendoza, in August last year, took hostage a bus with tourists from Hong Kong, out of frustration because his case had been pending before the Office of the Ombudsman for months. Carandang said Malacañang found out that "it took (Deputy Ombudsman) Gonzalez so long to act on the case of Mendoza." He said it took Gonzalez nine months to come out with a decision on the motion for reconsideration filed by Mendoza when it should have been made in only five days. During the official probe, police officers had testified they overheard Mendoza accusing Gonzalez of trying to extort money from him. "Unjustified delay" of Mendoza's case In a press statement, Ochoa said the decision was based on the recommendation of Palace lawyers, headed by him, who reviewed the findings of the Incident Investigation and Review Committee (IIRC) on the hostage taking incident. He said this was the first time that the Aquino administration has taken a direct action against an official in connection with the August 23, 2010 hostage-taking. “This decision reflects this Administration’s commitment to hold those responsible for the hostage-taking incident accountable," Ochoa said. “Those of us who serve government must be cognizant of the fact that people are affected by our failure to fulfill our responsibilities. In this case, lives were not only affected, they were lost," he added. In the 15-page decision, Malacañang found an inordinate and unjustified delay in the resolution of the motion for reconsideration timely filed by Mendoza on his dismissal from police service – a clear neglect of performance of official duty. It said that the delay in the resolution of Mendoza’s appeal that spanned nine months constituted “a flagrant disregard" of the Office of the Ombudsman’s Rules and Procedure, which provide that a motion for reconsideration must be acted upon within five days from the submission of the documents. Malacañang also stated that there was substantial evidence to prove that Gonzalez committed gross misconduct for showing undue interest in taking over the administrative case filed against Mendoza, which was then pending investigation with the Philippine National Police-Internal Affairs Service. It further noted that the delay in the resolution of Mendoza’s appeal was “all the more unjustified" since no opposition was ever filed against the former Manila police officer’s motion for reconsideration. “The circumstances surrounding the charges of gross neglect of duty and gross misconduct lent credence to Mendoza’s accusation during the hostage-taking incident that Gonzalez was extorting P150,000 from him in exchange for a favorable decision," Ochoa said. No jurisdiction Gonzalez had earlier challenged the authority of the Office of the President to charge him administratively, asserting that it had no judicial or quasi-judicial jurisdiction over him. Ochoa, however, explained that both transgressions – gross neglect of duty and gross misconduct – amounted to arbitrary and tyrannical exercise of authority and betrayal of public trust, which are grounds for the dismissal of Gonzalez from service by the President. In accordance with the Constitution and Republic Act No. 6670, or the Ombudsman Act of 1989, Ochoa said, the President has the power to discipline Gonzalez “even to the extent of meting out the supreme administrative penalty of dismissal." Rolando Mendoza On August 23 last year, Mendoza held hostage a tourist bus at the Quirino Grandstand in Manila. After an 11-hour standoff, Mendoza and eight hostages were killed. Mendoza entered the police force in 1981 as a patrolman in the defunct Philippine Constabulary-Integrated National Police (PC-INP) and became SPO2 in the early 1990s following the birth of the Philippine National Police. He was promoted to inspector in 2002 and senior inspector in 2005. He was scheduled to retire on January 10 this year but his term was cut short on February 16 2009 due to charges of robbery and extortion. Before his dismissal, Mendoza was meted a 90-day suspension in June 2008 over the same charges. He was supposed to be reassigned to Mindanao until he was ordered dismissed by the Office of the Ombudsman. Police Director Leocadio Santiago, chief of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO), said that any sentence by the Ombudsman is immediately executory. "The PNP is compelled to execute the order," he said. Mendoza filed a motion for reconsideration. As his case dragged on, Mendoza took the Chinese tourists hostage to demand for the dismissal of the case against him and his reinstatement into police service. - VVP, GMA News