NO MORE DOCTRINE OF CONDONATION TO ELECTIVE OFFICIALS

By Mortz C. Ortigoza, MPA

When I saw the straight shooter former Supreme Court Justice Conchita Carpio-Morales on my old photo I remembered the Doctrine of Abandonment of the Condonation in the Carpio-Morales v. Court of Appeals (G.R. No. 217126-27) case.

Supreme Court Justice Antonio Carpio (third from left) and former Ombudsman Conchita Morales (a former SC Justice, too) (fifth from left) and others like President Noynoy Aquino's Solicitor General and COA Chief chuckled on my joke to them while an amused - damn, I did not immediately recognize him because he was thin, frail and on wheel chair - Aquino's Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario (extreme right).

The Jurisprudence ruled that any administrative misconduct committed by an elective official is no longer automatically forgiven by their reelection, allowing for investigation and removal from office regardless of the electoral outcome.

The Doctrine of Condonation (or Aguinaldo Doctrine), which absolved re-elected officials of administrative liability for misconduct during a prior term, was abandoned by the Supreme Court on November 10, 2015. It is no longer applicable to cases filed or re-elections occurring on or after April 12, 2016.

Key Aspects of the Doctrine’s Abandonment:

Finality of Abandonment: The doctrine was deemed abandoned in Carpio-Morales v. Court of Appeals (G.R. No. 217126-27), with the abandonment becoming final on April 12, 2016.

Prospective Application: The Supreme Court explicitly ruled that the abandonment is prospective, meaning it does not apply to re-elections that occurred before April 12, 2016.

Rationale: The Court found the doctrine had no constitutional or statutory basis, contradicting the principle that public office is a public trust and undermining accountability.

Irrelevance of Election Type: The prohibition applies to both regular and recall elections occurring on or after the cutoff date.