AFTER he voluntarily withdrew his appointment as the next Supreme Court Associate Justice, Justice Gregory Ong now faces a move to oust him from his Sandiganbayan seat.

The Office of the Special Prosecutor of the Department of Justice is now questioning before the Supreme Court Ong’s continued presence at the Sandiganbayan.

DOJ Special Prosecutor Dennis Villa-Ignacio, who is the lead prosecutor of all antigraft cases at the Sandiganbayan, told the Court he feared that the same questions that led the SC to issue an injunction against Justice Ong’s assumption of an SC seat would logically apply to his holding on to his San­diganbayan seat.

Would this not prejudice the cases he is handling?, Villa-Ignacio asked.

Villa-Ignacio filed on Monday a three-page “Manifestation of Serious Concern on the Status of Honorable Justice Gregory S. Ong” before Supreme Court Administrator Christopher Lock.

Chief Justice Reynato Puno told The Manila Times that he has yet to receive Villa-Ignacio’s manifestation. Lock, The Times learned, has endorsed Villa-Ignacio’s documents to Chief Justice Puno for proper action.

In his pleading, Villa-Ignacio averred that a Sandiganbayan Justice must also be a natural-born Filipino citizen. The requirements stated in the 1987 Constitution for Supreme Court and Sandiganbayan justices are the same.

He feared that the continued stay of Ong at the Sandi­gan­bayan could be a waste of public funds since there is a pending question against Ong’s qualification. He cited that the Sandiganbayan 4th Division, chaired by Ong, is set for a scheduled out of town hearing on July 30, 2007, and August 3, 2007, in Cebu City.

“As the possibility of the proceedings being assailed by either or both parties and eventually nullified is not remote, and public funds and personnel resources put to waste, it is respectfully prayed that appropriate guidance/advice be issued to the offices concerned,” Villa-Ignacio’s manifestation says.

Villa-Ignacio also stressed that there are litigants who are now having doubts in their minds as to the continued stay of Ong as a Sandiganbayan justice because the decision of the SC against Ong is now considered “Final and Immediately Executory.”

“The issue at hand is a matter of public concern and it has become a staple media subject in the daily newspapers which should be given due consideration in view of the cases pending before the SC Fourth Division,” Villa-Ignacio also said.

On July 3, the SC voting unanimously rejected the appointment of Ong as the 15th member of the Court since there are questions as to his being a natural-born Filipino citizen.

With a vote of 13-0, the SC justices issued the opinion that Ong cannot sit as their colleague in the Court until he has completed the steps which necessary amend his birth certificate and other records to show that he is a natural-born Filipino citizen.

The SC stressed that the claim of Ong that he is a natural-born Filipino citizen as against the entries in his birth certificate that he is a Chinese citizen along with his mother and father, must be ventilated in judicial proceedings since it is evidentiary in nature.

Judicial proceedings would give him a chance to correct the entries of his birth and citizenship.

The SC ruling, however, just focused on Ong’s SC appointment since it is the sole subject of petitioners Kilosbayan (represented by former Senate president Jovito Salonga) and Bantay Katarungan (represented by Atty. Emilio Ca­pulong).

Ong was appointed by President Arroyo to be the replacement of SC Justice Romeo Callejo who retired on April 27, 2007. The President has until July 27, 2007, to choose another appointee from the choices submitted by the Judicial and Bar Council.

Persuaded to withdraw

An unimpeachable source of The Manila Times said that several justices persuaded Ong to withdraw his appointment as SC justice in order not to put President Arroyo in a dilemma.

The source said that aside from justices, an official of the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) also asked Ong to withdraw his appointment.

But, another source said that Ong really wanted to fight it out until the end, but was later on convinced after the SC made its ruling enjoining him from sitting as their colleague.