Palace defends screening of ombudsman bets

MANILA, Philippines - Malacañang yesterday justified the screening by President Aquino of the four candidates who will be replacing resigned Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez, saying this is well within the power of the appointing authority and in light of the Aug. 4 deadline to appoint a new ombudsman.

“That (vetting) has become a pattern of the President, just like what he did in the vacancy of the Commission on Elections then. He interviewed the candidates, although I don’t really know if he will be doing this again with the ombudsman,” Undersecretary Abigail Valte said.

The deputy presidential spokesperson neither confirmed nor denied that former justice secretary Artemio Tuquero was indeed interviewed Friday last week, although she denied that Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa was rooting for him.

“I am not privy to it. I talked to Executive Secretary Ochoa, and of course, there’s no truth to the report that he’s lobbying for the former justice secretary. He told me that there is no truth to that,” Valte told government-run radio dzRB.

“So far we have not received any word if he has indeed met with any, or some of them, and of course we do not want to preempt the President. We will all have to wait in due time, we have deadline for the filling of the vacancy. I think it’s Aug. 4,” she said.

Qualifications of the next ombudsman, according to her, are a given – that his/her integrity must be intact and beyond reproach, and the capability to lead the country’s independent institution in charge of prosecuting corrupt government officials.

Vindicated

In a related development, Valte recalled that Tuquero was among the legal luminaries who reprimanded (through published reports) then senator and presidential candidate Aquino with regard his opinion that former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo can no longer appoint a chief justice.

“If I remember correctly, he scolded then Senator Aquino for giving such a position because he claimed the senator was disregarding the rule of law. I remember this very well during the campaign,” she said.

As it turned out, however, Tuquero was vindicated with the Supreme Court decision upholding Arroyo’s appointment of Chief Justice Renato Corona, replacing Reynato Puno who retired in May 2010.

She wouldn’t know, however, whether this would have a bearing on Tuquero’s possible appointment as the next ombudsman.

Aquino, along with former defense secretary Avelino Cruz – a partner of Corona’s rival SC Justice Antonio Carpio – were of the opinion that Mrs. Arroyo can no longer make any appointments two months prior to the May 2010 polls. They said it was unconstitutional.

Aquino, apparently fed by Cruz, even went to the extent of saying that he will not recognize a chief justice appointed by Arroyo and which was why he chose retired SC justice Conchita Carpio-Morales to administer his oath in June 2010. He, however, later on recognized Corona.

Cousins Carpio and Carpio-Morales were known to be anti-Arroyo justices in the Arroyo-dominated 15-man high tribunal. The SC now has two vacancies, and Aquino’s first appointee was Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno.

Among the four nominees in the Judicial and Bar Council shortlist, Carpio-Morales may have the advantage over the rest, considering her stature and length of service in the judiciary, aside from the rumors that she was reportedly offered the post by Aquino himself.

Close ties

But some sectors in the legal community raised concerns about her closeness to Justice Carpio, noting that while her anti-Arroyo stance is a big factor, her association with “The Firm” may be suspect, considering that she had always voted where Carpio went.

Another nominee that reportedly has close ties with “The Firm” is PCGG commissioner Gerard Mosquera, a perceived underdog in the ombudsman race, although he is a member of the Utopia fraternity of the Ateneo de Manila law school where Ochoa came from.

Justice Undersecretary Leah Armamento, a career DOJ prosecutor, was a classmate of Ochoa in law school, while Tuquero is known to be a member of the Iglesia ni Cristo religious bloc, and a law dean of the University of the East owned by business tycoon Lucio Tan.

The two factions in the Aquino Cabinet are expected to lobby for their favored nominees – the Balay group of Transportation Secretary Manuel Roxas II will be endorsing Carpio-Morales and Mosquera, while the Samar group of Ochoa will be rooting for Tuquero and Armamento.

Towering integrity

Administration and opposition lawmakers, on the other hand, urged yesterday President Aquino to appoint an ombudsman who has “towering integrity and the moral courage” to go after corrupt officials even if they are allies or friends of the Chief Executive.

Deputy Speaker and Quezon Rep. Lorenzo Tañada III said Aquino should “choose an Ombudsman who will not be influenced by either friend or foe or by any religious sect or even by the highest official of the land.”

Aurora Rep. Juan Edgardo Angara said Aquino should appoint “someone independent and proactive.”

“Since the ombudsman has powers to investigate and file cases on its own, it need not wait for complaints from the public. Curbing corruption will be crucial to the success of his administration,” Angara said.

Quezon City Rep. Winston Castelo said the next ombudsman should also be acceptable to the public.

“He or she should not be tainted with any shred of misdeed and without any political association. The President should choose a person with towering integrity and moral courage,” Castelo said.

Zambales Rep. Milagros Magsaysay, for her part, hopes Aquino chooses “someone with no baggage.”

Multi-disciplinary team

Meantime, Mosquera said that the dominance of lawyers in the ombudsman’s office should be ended.

Mosquera said experts in other fields such as accountants, bank examiners, engineers and computer and forensic science experts, should be engaged to have a “multi-disciplinary” ombudsman team.

“The problem of corruption is a multi-dimensional one, requiring a multi-disciplinary approach which in turn requires a multi-disciplinary team to implement,” Mosquera said in his paper on improving the country’s anti-corruption efforts which he presented to the JBC in an interview over his nomination to the post of Ombudsman.

Mosquera’s presentation of his eight-point, seven year program to the JBC was credited for his “surprise” strong showing in the council’s voting for ombudsman and deputy ombudsman for Luzon positions last June.

“If we will be guided by the success of our neighbors in Southeast Asia, a multi-disciplinary approach anchored on proactive enforcement that creates deterrence has been the most successful,” Mosquera said.

“Hong Kong and Singapore provided the original templates adopted by Malaysia, and recently Indonesia. Both Malaysia and Indonesia have successfully adopted Hong Kong’s three-pronged anti-corruption strategy of deterrence, prevention and education with deterrence as the dominant prong, and these countries are now reaping the rewards of their efforts,” Mosquera said.

Mosquera noted the unfortunate and excessive importance given to lawyers in the ombudsman.

“When the 1987 Philippine Constitution was written, corruption was perceived and framed as a ‘legal’ problem that required a ‘legal’ solution. Thus, the first set of Ombudsman officers and employees were all lawyers and to this day, the personnel complement of the ombudsman’s office is dominated by lawyers,” Mosquera said.

“It is not uncommon to hear present Ombudsman personnel complain that non-lawyers in their office are regarded as ‘second-class citizens’,” Mosquera said.

“All these explain the prevailing notion that corruption being a legal problem, calls for a legal solution; and a legal solution requires throwing lawyers at the problem,” Mosquera added.

“Unfortunately, the purely ‘legal’ approach has failed, and will continue to fail until and unless a radical shift in approach and mindset is adopted and implemented,” Mosquera said. – With Rainier Allan Ronda, Paolo Romero