EVEN if she is only holding an ad interim position in the Commission on Elections (Comelec), poll member Ma. Graciela “Grace” Padaca still believes that impeachment must first be initiated before she faces her corruption charge.

Padaca countered the Office of the Ombubdsman in her 12-page reply that despite her ad interim position in the Comelec, her appointment, however, is “permanent and takes effect immediately.”

“Padaca, as a de jure officer, is vested with all powers and rights, granted by law and the Constitution,” her lawyers pointed out in the pleading.

The defense said that fiscals made it appear before the Sandiganbayan Fifth Division that her appointment is still hanging in balance, since she has not yet gone through the Commission on Appointment.

Padaca raised that the Philippine Charter makes an ad interim appointment “permanent in character by making it effective until disapproved by the [Appointment body], or until the next adjournment of the Congress.”

The prosecution also raised in their opposition on Padaca’s earlier motion to suspend that the former governor of Isabela is resorting to impeachment as a form of immunity.

Lawyers added that the Ombudsman misapplied a Supreme Court ruling wherein fiscals “insinuated” that Padaca cannot be removed by impeachment through the Constitution as she is only an ad interim appointee.

“This is misleading, if not plainly erroneous.” her lawyers said. “An ad interim appointment is neither a temporary nor a contingent appointment.”

The defense pressed that only an impeachment process, initiated at the House of Representatives, can remove her out of office because when she accepted the appointment, “she became a full-fledged Comelec commissioner.”

“And she was, and continues to be, lawfully bested with the duties, powers and privileges appurtenant to such constitutional office,” the pleading read.

They also refuted the prosecution’s claim that Padaca should be held in trial since her allegations stemmed when she was still the provincial chief of Isabela.

Padaca stands charged for allegedly granting P25 million to the Economic Development for Western Isabela and Northern Luzon Foundation Inc., a nongovernment organization, under the Priority Hybrid Rice Program in 2006 when she was then a governor.

Her lawyers from the Angara, Abello, Concepcion, Regala and Cruz Law office said that there is none in the Constitution that separates criminal allegations done before or during a constitutional member’s tenure.