THE Office of the Ombudsman affirmed the dismissal of active officers of the Philippine Navy indicted in the alleged murder of Ensign Philip Andrew Pestaño.

The Ombudsman upheld its order to the dismiss the active Navy officers, after the anti-graft agency denied their motion for reconsideration.

The respondent naval officials are Naval Captain Ricardo Ordoñez, Commander Reynaldo Lopez; Liuetenant Commanders Luidegar Casis, Alfrederick Alba, Joselito Colico, Ruben Roque; Machinery Repairman 2nd Class Sandy Miranda; Petty Officer 2nd Class Mil Leonor Igcasan; Petty Officer 1st Class Carlito Amoroso and Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class Welmenio U. Aquino.

Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales found the officers committed grave misconduct arising from the complaint that spouses Felipe and Evelyn Pestaño filed about the murder of their son.

The dismissal order has been forwarded to the Department of National Defense and the Flag-Officer-in-Command, Philippine Navy, for implementation.

The Ombudsman junked the suicide theory presented by the defense after finding a prima facie case of conspiracy to commit murder.

The Ombudsman noted that there were “unusual actions and reactions of respondents on the alleged discovery of Philip’s death.”

There were also inconsistencies in their testimonies, the evidence, and additional evidence that the Armed Forces found ten years after Philip’s death.

Meanwhile, the Sandiganbayan, where the ranking officers are facing murder charge, dismissed the case without prejudice.

The Sandiganbayan ruled that since Ordoñez was only a lieutenant commander on September 27, 1995, the reported date of the crime. The lead defendant was only receiving salary grade 26, which makes it invalid for the anti-graft court to hear the case.

“The accused are therefore correct in claiming that this court has no jurisdiction over the case at bar because Ordoñez’ rank at the time of the alleged commission of the crime does not fall within the jurisdiction of this court,” the Sandiganbayan ruling noted.

The court said that the case could be filed again in lower courts.