THE suspension of Overall Deputy Ombudsman Melchor Arthur Carandang by the Office of the President was invalid from the start, according to Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman.

In a statement issued on Monday, the lawmaker said that the state of jurisprudence was that the President’s power to dismiss the Ombudsman’s deputies which was granted under Republic Act No. 6770 was unconstitutional.

“Since the subject suspension defies the final decision of the Supreme Court in the Gonzales case, the suspension of Carandang by the Office of the President is void ab initio or invalid from the start, and is devoid of any shade of regularity,” Lagman said.

Malacañang formally charged Carandang for supposedly leaking confidential information and placed him under a 90-day preventive suspension.

The matter stemmed from the plunder complaint filed on May 5, 2016 before the Office of the Ombudsman by Sen. Antonio Trillanes 4th against then-Davao City mayor Rodrigo Duterte.

The Office of the Ombudsman said it would investigate Duterte and his family. MA. REINA LEANNE C. TOLENTINO