Indeed, politics in our country can bring out either the best or the worst from politicians. That is, finding opportunities with which to hit and destroy an enemy or build the name of the one favored.
The latest of this kind of scheme is the issuance of a preventive suspension order on Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia by the Office of the Ombudsman. A cursory evaluation of the suspension order will tell the Filipinos that the Ombudsman is just simply following the very mandate of the office; that is the pursuit of justice and providing the appropriate means with which aggrieved citizens will be given their due.
In the instant case however, there is reasonable ground to doubt the Ombudsman’s action. First, the lightning quick in the issuance of the preventive suspension order. According to Governor Garcia during a press conference in Cebu, the case was filed only last April 19, 2025, and she was not even informed by the Ombudsman about it. Then the order was released on October 23, 2025, or roughly four days only after the filing.
The one who filed the case, according to the lady governor, is one Moises Garcia Deiparine who is head convenor of the Ride for Duterte Movement. Moreover, according to the governor, the resolution only bears one solitary signature – that of Ombudsman Samuel Martirez. She further claimed that there were no recommendation for the adoption of such action, say from other officials of the Office like the graft investigators.
Garcia lamented how, she believes, the government agencies and offices are being bastardized all in the name of politics. She added that such action is “senseless”, and she proceeded to ask, “Is this how we are divided now.”
In an earlier interview with President Bongbong Marcos, Jr. he told media that the resolution of the Ombudsman is simply a manifestation that despite claims of certain sector that the present administration is influencing other government instrumentalities like the judiciary, they are still independently functioning.
The question from the media was certainly prompted by the common knowledge that Garcia is allied with the President in this election and the preventive suspension could drive the Cebuano leader into parting ways with the Malacañang tenant barely a week to the election.
Back to Garcia’s statement she said she’d rather let the Cebuanos “do the conclusion, but I would rather speak out the facts.”
Of course, we cannot blame if there are sectors of the population who would quickly tie the issuance of the preventive suspension to politics. In fact, a number of people from this doubting sector believes that this is a gambit by the pro-former President Rodrigo Duterte opposition rather than free exercise of discharging mandated responsibility.
Some from this politics-suspicious sector advance the idea that Ombudsman Martirez is a Duterte-appointee, and by ruling on the Garcia case within only four days it could be a big help to his appointing official’s political battle against the national administration. What with virtually clipping Marcos, Jr.’s administration influential ally from vote-rich Cebu Province! But the same action though would give the President the opportunity to somewhat prove justice in the government under his watch is evenly applied to everyone whether he or she is a party mate or not, or a friend or foe.
Then there is this case filed against Davao City’s first district Congressman Polong Duterte by a Davao City businessman. While the incident happened last February of this year, surprisingly the case was filed only very recently.
What could have motivated the victim of the Congressman’s alleged criminal acts to file his action this late – some two months since the incident in a local nightlife establishment? Certainly, the case against the congressman of the first district of Davao City could immediately be seized by his opponent as opportunity to put him in a bad light.
In other words, inversely with the preventive suspension of Cebu’s Governor Garcia, the political enemy of the younger Duterte congressman can also utilize the case to put the incumbent representative at the defensive. That is, the BBM follower candidate for the city’s’ first district Congressional seat gets the opportunity to heap the blame on the administration candidate for the filing of the case against the opposition congressman.
Meaning, depending on how the concerned politician interprets both the written and unwritten messages of the action wanted conveyed, such can either work in favor or against any of the election protagonists.
Indeed, it is of primordial importance that any move or action taken by one political personality, or anyone closely identified with or against any politician should first be deeply discerned before putting the action in effect. Otherwise, the impact of such supposed “blast” or “pasabog” will boomerang on the proponent as it seems now in the two cited cases.
