Morales declines comment

Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales issued no statement or reaction yesterday to President Duterte’s claim that she should have served only the unexpired term of her predecessor, former ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez who resigned in May 2011. Republic Act 6770 or the

Ombudsman Act of 1989 states, however, that the position of ombudsman always serves a sevenyear term regardless of how the post was vacated.

“In case of vacancy in the Office of the Ombudsman due to death, resignation, removal or permanent disability of the incumbent Ombudsman, the Overall Deputy shall serve as Acting Ombudsman in a concurrent capacity until a new Ombudsman shall have been appointed for a full term,” Section 8(3) of the law states.

The Office of the Ombudsman was created by the Constitution. The Charter, however, specifically provides that officials of constitutional bodies – the Civil Service Commission, Commission on Elections and Commission on Audit – who are appointed to fill a vacancy due to impeachment, incapacity or death, must serve only the unexpired term. There is no such specific provision in the case of the Office of the Ombudsman.

Former president Benigno Aquino III appointed Morales as ombudsman in July 2011 after Gutierrez was forced to resign from her post in May 2011, days before she was scheduled to face the Senate impeachment court.

During the brief vacancy, then overall deputy ombudsman Orlando Casimiro became acting ombudsman also in accordance with the rules of RA 6770.

Gutierrez vacated her post ahead of the expiration of her seven-year term scheduled to end in November 2012 because of accusations that she had been remiss in her job as evidenced by the snail-paced manner by which cases being handled by the antigraft agency were moving.

Aquino then said that one of the best examples of weaknesses on the part of the ombudsman was the controversial plea bargaining agreement that special prosecutors entered into with former military comptroller, Carlos Garcia, who was originally charged with plunder but was eventually slapped with lesser offenses after promising to return half of what he was accused of stealing from the country’s coffers.

During her term, Gutierrez was in turn told that she was only serving the unexpired term of former ombudsman Simeon Marcelo, who resigned from his post ahead of the expiration of his term because of health reasons.

The anti-graft agency, however, stood firm on its belief that when former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo appointed her in November 2005, she gave her a full seven-year term.