The legal counsel of Black Suede scandal victim Genaro Jorolan pushes the filing of criminal and administrative charges before the Ombudsman on the basis of its jurisdiction over the Department of Health this morning.
Lawyer Guiller Ceniza, in an interview, said that they will not be filing before the DOH anymore, explaining that it is the Ombudsman which has the right to handle the case of Jorolan.
Ceniza told The FREEMAN that compared to the DOH, the Ombudsman Visayas has “more of that power to conduct investigations regarding its constituents.”
“We’re pushing through because the Ombudsman has first expressed cognizance to the case and it has ordered that there will only be one agency to conduct further investigations,” he added.
Ceniza even said that the Ombudsman first took notice of the case on May 5 while the DOH had its first evaluation report last May 12.
With regards to the accused staff members of the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center, Ceniza said that the DOH only had six staff filed with charges and only named three. But the Ombudsman identified 14 persons and out of them, 12 were accused because the two are clinical instructors said to be “outside of their jurisdiction.”
Ceniza clarified that the “Ombudsman presented transparent hope for the case to get solved.”
The DOH on the other hand has rescheduled the conduct of the investigation saying that they will still consult the Office of the Ombudsman about the matter.
DOH assistant regional director, Dr. Lakshme Legaspi said that the investigation is supposed to start yesterday but because of the still pending go signal from the central office, they have decided to move it on Tuesday.
Legaspi said that some DOH officials are in Manila to discuss about the matter so that clarifications will be made as to who will handle the case.
The DOH-7 will start its own formal investigation after VSMMC chief, Dr. Gerardo Aquino filed the administrative charges against the VSMMC medical staff members for “inappropriate behavior” in the January 3 operation to remove the Black Suede body spray from the rectum of Jorolan.— Jasmin R. Uy and Annie Hazel D. Basada, UP Tacloban Comm Arts intern/MEEV