The Office of the Ombudsman has confirmed that it is conducting fact-finding on issues involving Vice President Sara Duterte, while being mindful of ongoing impeachment proceedings before the Senate, Assistant Ombudsman Jose Dominic Clavano IV said.

He said the office is observing developments in the impeachment trial, where evidence is expected to be presented by prosecutors, before determining whether any issues fall within its jurisdiction.

“May fact-finding pa din po tayo. Although siyempre po dahil pasimula na yung impeachment trial, ayaw namin makisabay yung investigation dahil ipe-present din ng prosecution yung evidence po. So titignan natin yung paglatag ng ebidensya doon. Kung meron po talaga tayo makikita under jurisdiction ng Office of the Ombudsman, tsaka namin pag-usapan po (We still have fact-finding. But since the impeachment trial is about to start, we do not want to overlap with the investigation because the prosecution will also present evidence. We will look at how the evidence is laid out there. If we find anything under the jurisdiction of the Office of the Ombudsman, that is when we will discuss it),” Clavano said during a DZMM interview.

Clavano said the office is looking into matters covered by the four articles of impeachment.

He said some allegations fall outside its jurisdiction such as grave threats.

Meanwhile, Clavano said the Office of the Ombudsman is assessing whether it has jurisdiction over statements made by Ramil Madriaga, a self-confessed former aide of the Duterte family, as well as alleged bank accounts connected to the issue.

On the question of vice presidential immunity, Clavano said this is also being carefully studied, especially given the political sensitivity of the case.

“Yung nagiging legal issue po, yung immunity ng isang vice president. So pinag-aaralan namin nang husto yun. At lalo na ngayon na mainit po yung politika, ayaw din naming masyadong diinin pa. Anyway may impeachment trial. And that is a purely political process (The legal issue now is the immunity of a vice president. We are studying that carefully. And especially now that politics is heated, we do not want to push too hard. There is an impeachment trial anyway, and that is a purely political process),” he said.

He added that the Ombudsman will wait for the presentation of evidence during the impeachment proceedings before deciding on any further steps.