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G.R. No. 95367 May 23, 1995 : JOSE T. ALMONTE, ET AL. vs. CONRADO M. VASQUEZ, ET AL. : May 1995 - Philipppine Supreme Court Decisions
Philippine Supreme Court Jurisprudence > Year 1995 > May 1995 Decisions > G.R. No. 95367 May 23, 1995 : JOSE T. ALMONTE, ET AL. vs. CONRADO M. VASQUEZ, ET AL.:
Petitioner Jose T. Almonte was formerly Commissioner of the EIIB, while Villamor C. Perez is Chief of the EIIB's Budget and Fiscal Management Division. The subpoena duces tecum was issued by the Ombudsman in connection with his investigation of an anonymous letter alleging that funds representing savings from unfilled positions in the EIIB had been illegally disbursed. The letter, purporting to have been written by an employee of the EIIB and a concerned citizen, was addressed to the Secretary of Finance, with copies furnished several government offices, including the Office of the Ombudsman.
The letter reads in pertinent parts:nadchanroblesvirtualawlibrary
1. These are the things that I have been observing. During the implementation of E.O 127 on May 1, 1988, one hundred ninety (190) personnel were dismissed. Before that implementation, we had a monthly savings of P500,000.00 from unfilled plantilla position plus the implementation of RA 6683 wherein seventy (70) regular employees availed a total amount of P1,400,000.00 was saved from the government monthly. The question is, how do they used or disbursed this savings? The EIIB has a syndicate headed by the Chief of Budget Division who is manipulating funds and also the brain of the so called "ghost agents" or the "Emergency Intelligence Agents" (EIA). The Commissioner of EIIB has a biggest share on this. Among his activities are:nadchanroblesvirtualawlibrary
a) Supporting RAM wherein he is involved. He gives big amount especially during Dec. Failed coup.
b) Payment for thirty five (35) mini UZI's.
c) Payment for the purchased of Maxima '87 for personal used of the Commissioner.
d) Another observation was the agents under the Director of NCR EIIB is he sole operating unit within Metro Manila which was approved by no less than the Commissioner due to anomalous activities of almost all agents assigned at the central office directly under the Commissioner. Retired Brig. Gen. Almonte as one of the Anti-Graft board member of the Department of finance should not tolerate this. However, the Commissioner did not investigate his own men instead, he placed them under the 15-30 payroll.
e) Many more which are personal.
2. Sir, my question is this. Can your good office investigate EII intelligence funds particularly Personal Services (01) Funds? I wonder why the Dep't. of Budget & Mgmt. cannot compel EIIB to submit an actual filled up position because almost half of it are vacant and still they are releasing it. Are EIIB plantilla position classified? It is included in the Personal Services Itemnization (PSI) and I believe it is not classified and a ruling from Civil Service. Another info, when we had salary differential last Oct '88 all money for the whole plantilla were released and from that alone, Millions were saved and converted to ghost agents of EIA.
3. Another thing that I have observed was the Chief Budget Division possesses high caliber firearms such as a mini UZI, Armalite rifle and two (2) 45 cal. pistol issued to him by the Assistant Commissioner wherein he is not an agent of EIIB and authorized as such according to memorandum order number 283 signed by the President of the Republic of the Philippines effective 9 Jan. 1990.
In his comment 1 on the letter-complaint, petitioner Almonte denied that as a result of the separation of personnel, the EIIB had made some savings. he averred that the only funds released to his agency by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) were those corresponding to 947 plantilla positions which were filled. he also denied that there were "ghost agents" in the EIIB and claimed that disbursements for "open" (i.e., "covert" personnel) plantillas of the agency had been cleared by the Commission on Audit (COA); that the case of the 30 Uzis had already been investigated by Congress, where it was shown that it was not the EIIB but an agent who had spent for the firearms and they were only loaned to the EIIB pending appropriation by Congress; that, contrary to the charge that a Maxima car had been purchased for his use, he was using a government issued car from the NICA; that it was his prerogative as Commissioner to "ground" agents in the EIIB main office so that they could be given reorientation and retraining; that the allegation that the EIIB operatives pilfered smuggled firearms was without factual basis because the firearms were the subject of seizure proceedings before the Collector of Customs, Port of Manila; that the EIIB had been uncompromising toward employees found involved in anomalous activities; and that intelligence funds had not been used for media propaganda and if media people went to the EIIB it was because of newsworthy stories. Petitioner asked that the complaint be dismissed and the case considered closed. nadchanroblesvirtuallawlibrary
The Graft Investigation Officer of the Ombudsman's office, Jose F. Saño, found the comments unsatisfactory, being "unverified and plying only on generalizations without meeting specifically the points raised by complainant as constitutive of the alleged anomalies." 3 He, therefore, asked for authority to conduct a preliminary investigation. Anticipating the grant of his request, he issued a subpoena 4 to petitioners Almonte and Perez, requiring them to submit their counter-affidavits and the affidavits of their witnesses, as well as a subpoena duces tecum 5 to the Chief of the EIIB's Accounting Division ordering him to bring "all documents relating to Personal Services Funds for the year 1988 and all evidence, such as vouchers (salary) for the whole plantilla of EIIB for 1988."
Petitioners Almonte and Perez moved to quash the subpoena and the subpoena duces tecum. In his Order dated June 15, 1990, 6 respondent Ombudsman granted the motion to quash the subpoena in view of the fact that there were no affidavits filed against petitioners. But he denied their motion to quash the subpoena duces tecum. He ruled that petitioners were not being forced to produce evidence against themselves, since the subpoena duces tecum was directed to the Chief Accountant, petitioner Nerio Rogado. In addition the Ombudsman ordered the Chief of the Records Section of the EIIB, petitioner Elisa Rivera, to produce before the investigator "all documents relating to Personnel Service Funds, for the year 1988, and all documents, salary vouchers for the whole plantilla of the EIIB for 1988, within ten (10) days from receipt hereof."
Petitioners' motion was denied in respondent Ombudsman's order dated, August 6, 1990. hence, this petition which questions the orders of June 15, 1990 and August 6, 1990 of respondent Ombudsman.
To put this case in perspective it should be stated at the outset that it does not concern a demand by a citizen for information under the freedom of information guarantee of the Constitution. 7 Rather it concerns the power of the Office of the Ombudsman to obtain evidence in connection with an investigation conducted by it vis-á-vis the claim of privilege of an agency of the Government. Thus petitioners raise the following issues: 8
I. WHETHER OR NOT A CASE BROUGHT ABOUT BY AN UNSIGNED AND UNVERIFIED LETTER COMPLAINT IS AN "APPROPRIATE CASE" WITHIN THE CONCEPT OF THE CONSTITUTION IN WHICH PUBLIC RESPONDENT CAN OBLIGE PETITIONERS BY VIRTUE OF HIS SUBPOENA DUCES TECUM TO PROCEDURE TO HIM "ALL DOCUMENTS RELATING TO PERSONAL SERVICES FUNDS FOR THE YEAR 1988 AND ALL EVIDENCES, SUCH AS VOUCHERS (SALARY) FOR THE WHOLE PLANTILLA OF EIIB FOR 1988."
II. WHETHER OR NOT "ALL DOCUMENTS RELATING TO PERSONAL SERVICES FUNDS FOR THE YEAR 1988 AND ALL EVIDENCES, SUCH AS VOUCHERS (SALARY) FOR THE WHOLE PLANTILLA OF EIIB FOR 1988" ARE CLASSIFIED AND, THEREFORE, BEYOND THE REACH OF PUBLIC RESPONDENT'S SUBPOENA DUCES TECUM.
There are several subsidiary issues raised by petitioners, but the principal ones revolve on the question whether petitioners can be ordered to produce documents relating to personal services and salary vouchers of EIIB employees on the plea that such documents are classified. Disclosure of the documents in question is resisted on the ground that "knowledge of EIIB's documents relative to its Personal Services Funds and its plantilla . . . will necessarily [lead to] knowledge of its operations, movements, targets, strategies, and tactics and the whole of its being" and this could "destroy the EIIB." 9
Petitioners do not question the power of the Ombudsman to issue a subpoena duces tecum nor the relevancy or materially of the documents required to be produced, to the pending investigation in the Ombudsman's office. Accordingly, the focus of discussion should be on the Government's claim of privilege.
In addition, in the litigation over the Watergate tape subpoena in 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court recognized the right of the President to the confidentiality of his conversations and correspondence, which it likened to "the claim of confidentiality of judicial deliberations." Said the Court in United States v. Nixon. 11
There are, in addition to such privileges, statutorily-created ones such as the Government's privilege to withhold the identity of persons who furnish information of violations of laws. 15
With respect to the privilege based on state secret, the rule was stated by the U.S. Supreme Court as follows:nadchanroblesvirtualawlibrary
In the case at bar, there is no claim that military or diplomatic secrets will be disclosed by the production of records pertaining to the personnel of the EIIB. Indeed, EIIB's function is the gathering and evaluation of intelligence reports and information regarding "illegal activities affecting the national economy, such as, but not limited to, economic sabotage, smuggling, tax evasion, dollar salting." 18 Consequently, while in cases which involve state secrets it may be sufficient to determine from the circumstances of the case that there is reasonable danger that compulsion of the evidence will expose military matters without compelling production, 19 no similar excuse can be made for a privilege resting on other considerations. nadchanroblesvirtuallawlibrary
Nor has our attention been called to any law or regulation which considers personnel records of the EIIB as classified information. To the contrary, COA Circular No. 88-293, which petitioners invoke to support their contention that there is adequate safeguard against misuse of public funds, provides that the "only item of expenditure which should be treated strictly confidential" is that which refers to the "purchase of information and payment of rewards." Thus, part, V, No. 7 of the Circular reads:nadchanroblesvirtualawlibrary
The other statutes and regulations 21 invoked by petitioners in support of their contention that the documents sought in the subpoena duces tecum of the Ombudsman are classified merely indicate the confidential nature of the EIIB's functions, but they do not exempt the EIIB from the duty to account for its funds to the proper authorities. Indeed by denying that there were savings made from certain items in the agency and alleging that the DBM had released to the EIIB only the allocations needed for the 947 personnel retained after its reorganization, petitioners in effect invited inquiry into the veracity of their claim. If, as petitioners claim, the subpoenaed records have been examined by the COA and found by it to be regular in all respects, there is no reason why they cannot be shown to another agency of the government which by constitutional mandate is required to look into any complaint concerning public office.
His need for the documents thus outweighs the claim of confidentiality of petitioners. What is more, while there might have been compelling reasons for the claim of privilege in 1988 when it was asserted by petitioners, now, seven years later, these reasons may have been attenuated, if they have not in fact ceased. The agents whose identities could not then be revealed may have ceased from the service of the EIIB, while the covert missions to which they might have been deployed might either have been accomplished or abandoned. On the other hand, the Ombudsman's duty to investigate the complaint that there were in 1988 unfilled positions in the EIIB for which continued funding was received by its officials and put to illegal use, remains.
Petitioners contend that under Art. XI, § 13 (4) the Ombudsman can act only "in any appropriate case, and subject to such limitations as may be provided by law" and that because the complaint in this case is unsigned and unverified, the case is not an appropriate one. This contention lacks merit. As already stated, the Constitution expressly enjoins the Ombudsman to act on any complaint filed "in any form or manner" concerning official acts or omissions. Thus, Art. XI, § 12 provides:
Similarly, the Ombudsman Act of 1989 (Rep. Act No. 6770) provides in § 26(2):nadchanroblesvirtualawlibrary
What has been said above disposes of petitioners' contention that the anonymous letter-complaint against them is nothing but a vexatious prosecution. It only remains to say that the general investigation in the Ombudsman's office is precisely for the purpose of protecting those against whom a complaint is filed against hasty, malicious, and oppressive prosecution as much as securing the State from useless and expensive trials. There may also be benefit resulting from such limited in camera inspection in terms of increased public confidence that the privilege is not being abused and increased likelihood that no abuse is in fact occurring.
Nor is there violation of petitioners' right to the equal protection of the laws. Petitioners complain that "in all forum and tribunals . . . the aggrieved parties . . . can only hale respondents via their verified complaints or sworn statements with their identities fully disclosed," while in proceedings before the Office of the Ombudsman anonymous letters suffice to start an investigation. In the first place, there can be no objection to this procedure because it is provided in the Constitution itself. In the second place, it is apparent that in permitting the filing of complaints "in any form and in a manner," the framers of the Constitution took into account the well-known reticence of the people which keep them from complaining against official wrongdoings. As this Court had occasion to point out, the Office of the Ombudsman is different from the other investigatory and prosecutory agencies of the government because those subject to its jurisdiction are public officials who, through official pressure and influence, can quash, delay or dismiss investigations held against them. 31 On the other hand complainants are more often than not poor and simple folk who cannot afford to hire lawyers. 32
Finally, it is contended that the issuance of the subpoena duces tecum would violate petitioners' right against self-incrimination. It is enough to state that the documents required to be produced in this case are public records and those to whom the subpoena duces tecum is directed are government officials in whose possession or custody the documents are. Moreover, if, as petitioners claim the disbursement by the EII of funds for personal service has already been cleared by the COA, there is no reason why they should object to the examination of the documents by respondent Ombudsman. nadchanroblesvirtuallawlibrary
KAPUNAN, J., dissenting:nadchanroblesvirtualawlibrary
The well-written ponencia of Mr. Justice Mendoza would postulate that the Economic Intelligence and Investigation Bureau (EIIB) documents relating to the Personal Services Funds for the year 1988 and all documentary evidence, including salary vouchers for the whole plantilla of the EIIB for 1988 be produced before the Ombudsman over the objections of the EIIB Commissioner on the ground that the documents contain highly confidential matters, apart from the fact that the expenditures had been cleared in audit by the Commission on Audit (COA). The reasons relied upon in the ponencia are a) that the EIIB documents at issue are not classified under COA (Commission on Audit) Circular No. 88-293, Part V No. 7 which limits such matters exclusively to expenditures relating to the purchase of information and payment of rewards; and b) the documents relating to disbursement and expenditures of the EIIB for personal funds had already been previously examined by the Commission on Audit when such outlay had been passed upon in audit in the said Office, such that there is no confidentiality privilege to protect. nadchanroblesvirtuallawlibrary
Disclosure of the documents as required by the Ombudsman would necessarily defeat the legal mandate of the EIIB as the intelligence arm of the executive branch of government relating to matters affecting the economy of the nation. As such, EIIB's functions are related to matters affecting national security. In the performance of its function in relation with the gathering of intelligence information executive privilege could as well be invoked by the EIIB, especially in relation to its covert operations.
The determination, by the executive branch, through its appropriate agencies, of a question as affecting the national security is a policy decision for which this Court has neither the competence nor the mandate to infringe upon. In the absence of a clear showing a grave abuse of discretion on the part of the Executive, acting through its (national security) agencies, I am of the opinion that we cannot interfere with a determination, properly made, on a question affecting economic security lest we are prepared to ride roughshod over certain prerogatives of our political branches. In an area obviously affecting the national security, disclosure of confidential information on the promptings of some dissatisfied employees would potentially disturb a number of carefully laid-out operations dependent on secrecy and I am not prepared to do this. The characterization of the documents as classified information is not a shield for wrongdoing but a barrier against the burdensome requests for information which necessarily interfere with the proper performance of their duties. To give in, at every turn, to such requests would be greatly disruptive of governmental functions. More so in this case, since expenditures of the EIIB for personal funds had already been previously examined and passed upon in audit by the Commission on Audit. There has been no allegation of any irregularity in the COA's earlier examination, and in t he absence of substantiated allegation, the previous determination ought to be accorded our respect unless we want to encourage unnecessary and tiresome forays and investigations into government activities which would not only end up nowhere but which would also disrupt or derail such activities.
Besides, as I emphasized earlier, the determination of the legality of EIIB's disbursements of funds allocated to it are properly within the competence of the Commission on Audit, which as the ponencia of Justice Mendoza finds, has been cleared in audit. The Commission on Audit had adopted, as in the past, measures to protect "classified information" pertaining to examination of expenditures of intelligence agencies. In the present case, disclosure of information to any other agency would unnecessarily expose the covert operations of EIIB, as a government agency charged with national security functions. nadchanroblesvirtuallawlibrary
1. Rollo, pp. 36-37.
3. Id., p. 39.
4. Id., p. 41.
6. Id., pp. 53-54.
7. Art. III, § provides: "The right of the people to information on matters of public concern shall be recognized. Access to official records, and to documents, and papers pertaining to official acts, transactions, or decisions, as well as to government research data used as basis for policy development, shall be afforded the citizen, subject to such limitations as may be provided by law."
8. Petitioners' Memorandum, p. 6.
9. Petitioners' Memorandum, p. 27.
10. Anno., Government Privilege Against Disclosure of Official Information, 95 L. Ed. §§ 3-4 and 7, pp. 427-29, 434.
11. 418 U.S. 683, 708-9, 41 L. Ed. 2d 1039, 1061-4 (1973).cralaw
12. Freund, The Supreme Court 1973 Term — Foreword: On Presidential Privilege, 88 HARV. L. REV. 13, 18-35 (1974).cralaw
13. Final Report of the National Study Commission on Records and Documents of Federal Officials (March 31, 1977), quoted in BLOCH & KRATTENMAKER, SUPREME COURT POLITICS: THE INSTITUTION AND ITS PROCEDURES 677-87 (1994).cralaw
14. Letter of Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist dated June 7, 1993 to Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, Chairman, Subcommittee on Regulation and Government Information, U.S. Senate, quoted in BLOCH & KRATTENMAKER, id., at 687-8.
15. COA Circular No. 88-293.
16. United States v. Reynolds, 345 U.S. 1, 10-11, 97 L. Ed. 727, 734-35 (1953). In this case the U.S. Supreme Court reversed a lower court order requiring the government to produce documents relating to the crash of a military aircraft which had been engaged in a secret mission to test electronic equipment. The fact conceded by the respondents, that the aircraft was on a secret military mission, justified nonproduction of the report of the accident. It was apparent the report contained state secrets which in the interest of national security could not be divulged even in the chambers of the judge of in camera. there was "a reasonable danger that the investigation report would contain references to the secret electronic equipment which was the primary concern of the mission."
17. In United States v. Nixon, 418 U.S. 683, 41 L.Ed. 2d 1039 (1974), the Court, while acknowledging that the President's need "for complete candor and objectivity from advisers calls for great deference from the courts," nonetheless held that such generalized claim of confidentiality could not prevail over the "specific need for evidence in a pending criminal trial." Accordingly the Court ordered the tapes of conversations of President Nixon to be turned over to the trial judge for in camera inspection to determine whether they were relevant and admissible apart from being privileged. Similarly in Nixon v. Administrator of General Services, 433 U.S. 425, 53 L. Ed. 2d 867 (1977) it was held that the mere screening of tapes and other records of President Nixon's conversations with employees of the Federal Government, to be done by professional archivists for the purpose of "legitimate historical and governmental purpose," constituted "a very limited intrusion . . . into executive confidentiality comparable to those held to justify in camera inspection." 433 U.S. at 451-52, 53 L. Ed. 2d. at 896-97. Accordingly the validity of the law, entitled "Presidential Recordings and Materials Preservation Act," was upheld against the claim that "the Presidential privilege shield the records from archival scrutiny."
18. E.O. No. 127.
19. United States v. Reynolds, supra note 16.
20. Quoted in Petitioners' memorandum, p. 27.
21. Petitioners cite in their Memorandum, at p. 19, the following:nadchanroblesvirtualawlibrary
Any disbursement of Intelligence funds should not be allowed in audit, unless it is in strict compliance with the provisions of Letters of Instruction No. . . . and 1282. Any officer or employee who violates the provisions of the aforementioned Letter of Instruction shall be dealt with administratively without prejudice to any criminal action that may be warranted. (memorandum Circular No. 1290 of the Office of the President dated August 19, 1985).cralaw
22. Art. XI, § 12.
23. 42 SCRA 448 (1971).cralaw
24. 117 SCRA 668 (1989).cralaw
25. New York Times Co. v. United States [The Pentagon Papers Case], 403 U.S. 713, 29 L. Ed. 2d 822 (1971).cralaw
26. Art. XI, § 13. The Office of the Ombudsman shall have the following powers, functions, and duties:nadchanroblesvirtualawlibrary
(2) Direct, upon complaint or at its own instance, any public official or employee of the Government, or any subdivision, agency or instrumentality thereof, as well as of any government-owned or controlled corporation with original charter, to perform and expedite any act or duty required by law, or to stop, prevent and correct any abuse or impropriety in the performance of duties.
(7) Determine the causes of inefficiency, red tape, mismanagement, fraud, and corruption in the Government and make recommendations or their elimination and the observance of high standards of ethics and efficiency.
27. 219 SCRA 675 (1993).cralaw
28. Art. XI, §13(1).cralaw
29. Art. XI, § 13(6) requires the Office of the Ombudsman to "publicize matters covered by its investigation when circumstances so warrant and with due prudence."
30. Art. XI, § 1 provides: "Public office is a public trust. Public officers and employees must at all times be accountable to the people, serve them with utmost responsibility, integrity, loyalty, and efficiency, act with patriotism and justice and lead modest lives."
31. Deloso v. Domingo, 191 SCRA 545, 551 (1990).cralaw
32. 2 RECORD OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL COMMISSION, pp. 369-370.
1. BERNAS, I THE CONSTITUTION OF THE REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES, 265 (1987).cralaw
2. See id., at 267.