Delayed resolution of Ombudsman cases blamed on snail mail

MANILA, Philippines - Blame it on snail mail.

Officials of the Office of the Ombudsman said the highly-criticized delay in the resolution of graft and other complaints filed before the anti-graft agency is due to the snail-paced delivery of good old-fashioned mail in the Philippines.

Because registered mail takes so long to reach a recipient, the exchange of affidavits and other documents between the investigating body, the complainant, and the respondent hinders the administration of swift justice.

Special Prosecutor II Conrad Estrellar Jr. of the Office of the Deputy Ombudsman for Military and Other Law Enforcement Offices (MOLEO) explained that the handling of cases, especially against men in uniform, at the Office of the Ombudsman is very different from that of the Department of Justice (DOJ).

“It’s not like in the DOJ that when you are filing a complaint against someone from Pasay, you file the complaint in Pasay,” he said during the Office of the Ombudsman’s Magsumbong sa Ombudsman radio program aired over dzRB last Wednesday .

In cases handled by MOLEO, Estrallar said an order to file a counter-affidavit against a policeman from Sulu, for example, will have to be sent by post from Quezon City to Mindanao.

“And this is registered mail, which takes too long to reach the recipient. And when the policeman sends his answer, it will also take months before this will be received by MOLEO,” he said.

“How much more if there is a motion for extension of time to file counter-affidavit? This is part of what we call due process,” he said.

“This is what we want the parties to understand, especially those who have cases pending before the Ombudsman,” Estrallar stressed, noting that more modern communication like electronic mail cannot be used because affidavits and the likes need to be sworn to before a prosecutor or, under extreme circumstances, a notary public in accordance with the rules of court.

He said that even if a complaint against a military or police official is filed before the Office of the Ombudsman’s office in the Visayas or Mindanao, the same will have to be referred to the Central Office in Quezon City where MOLEO, now headed by Assistant Ombudsman Eulogio Apostol as officer-in-charge, is located.

Estrellar said MOLEO handles cases against the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) which, after finding probable cause, files cases before the Sandiganbayan for high-ranking officials from colonels up and before lower courts for low-ranking personnel.

Despite these problems, he said Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales is instituting reforms to speed up the processes of the Office of the Ombudsman.

Estrellar said complaints involving high-ranking officials and controversial national cases like the PNP helicopter and rubber boat purchase anomalies are being prioritized.

Meanwhile, lawyer Cezar Tirol of the Bureau of Resident Ombudsman said Morales is living up to her promise of changing the Office of the Ombudsman for the better, quoting her as saying “she will fix her house first before she fixes the whole country.”

Media Affairs Bureau chief Edgardo Diansuy said the strategic planning meetings and workshops held during the first two months are about to end, which will mean that the Office of the Ombudsman will soon be able to bare its seven-year roadmap in its fight against graft and corruption in government.