FORMER Congressman Nick Aliping is questioning the latest resolution of the Ombudsman at the Supreme Court (SC).
Aliping with legal counsel Lauro Gacayan filed a Petition for Certiorari questioning the decision of the courts.
Gacayan said "We filed a motion for reconsideration saying the case does not involve his performance as a public officer and therefore if there is a probable cause it must be filed in the regular court, in the RTC of Benguet."
The Office of the Ombudsman released the decision, dated August 2016, early this month taking the case of the former congressman and contractors William Go, Bernard Capuyan and Romeo Aquino to the regular courts.
This Aliping case is for his alleged involvement in tree cutting activities in Santo Tomas, Tuba, Benguet three years ago.
"We told the Ombudsman that there is no probable cause. There is no concrete evidence against him or the contractors like Engineer Aquino. The only evidence is the picture of the backhoe. The same also with William Go which is the backhoe," Gacayan said.
According to Gacayan, they filed the Petition for Certiorari in the SC saying the Ombudsman has committed a grave abuse of discretion.
"We are still waiting for the resolution in the Supreme Court. There is no case filed yet in the RTC against the former congressman," Gacayan said.
A few years ago, the group of Bishop Carlito Cenzon of the Diocese of Baguio filed a case in court. They won in the Court of Appeals, however, the group of Aliping elevated the case to the Supreme Court to reverse the decision where their petition was given due course by the SC.
They were just required to submit a memorandum where according to them the case will continue if there is a very good reason.