Social Security System president and chief operating officer Romulo Neri has no choice but to respect the decision of the Office of the Ombudsman, which has ordered his preventive suspension for his involvement in the NBN-ZTE scandal.

Memorandum Circular No. 01, series of 2006, of the Ombudsman provides: “a decision of the Office of the Ombudsman in the administrative cases shall be executed as a matter of course” and “all heads of Department offices, bureaus and agencies of the national government including government-owned and -controlled corporations are enjoined to implement all Ombudsman decisions, orders or resolutions in administrative disciplinary cases immediately upon receipt thereof by their respective offices.”

Neri must also know and the public must be aware that under the memorandum, “the filing of a motion for reconsideration or a petition for review before the Office of the Ombudsman does not operate to stay the immediate implementation” of the “Ombudsman’s decisions, orders or resolutions.”

If, despite these legal provisions, Neri remains in office, then he is indeed outside the reach of the law because of Malacañang.

—LIGORIO G.M. NAVAL,
114-B Alima, Bacoor, Cavite