SC urged to declare top Ombudsman positions vacant

A lawyer has asked the Supreme Court (SC) to declare the top positions at the Office of the Ombudsman vacant as the current occupants allegedly have been overstaying in their posts for two years now.

In a petition, lawyer Rey Nathaniel Ifurung urged the high court to strike down as unconstitutional Section 8(3) of the Ombudsman Act of 1989 (Republic Act 6770) which assures a fresh seven-year term for the successor of the incumbent Ombudsman and his deputies.

Ifurung said the provision was “constitutionally infirm” as it “grossly contravenes” other provisions in the 1987 Constitution pertaining to the term of the Ombudsman and his deputies in relation to the terms of office of members of other constitutional offices such as the Civil Service Commission and Commission on Elections.

“[A]ll of the 1987 Constitution provides that any successor to these constitutionally created positions and offices shall serve only the unexpired term of the predecessor,” the petition read.

“The grant, therefore, of a full term to an Ombudsman successor—when the vacancy in the office is for a cause other than the expiration of term—is an outright non-observance of the intent of the framers and Section 11, Article XI of the 1987 Constitution (term of office for Ombudsman and deputies),” the petition read.

The petition noted the constitutional provision governing the term of office of the Ombudsman and his deputies has neither been followed nor complied with.

“In point of fact, the incumbent Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales, should have ceased holding office on February 1, 2015 considering that the unexpired term of the supposed fourth seven-year term ended on said date,” the petition stated.

“As it now stands, Carpio-Morales has been holding the same position in a de facto capacity for more than two years already since February 2015 up to the present. The same is true with the Deputies Ombudsman.”

Morales was appointed to a seven-year term on July 25, 2011 following the resignation of then-Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez over allegations of incompetence and inaction on various cases. A retired Supreme Court justice, Morales is set to end her stint at the anti-graft body in July 2018.

Her deputies are Melchor Arthur Carandang (Overall Deputy Ombudsman), Gerard Mosquera (Deputy Ombudsman for Luzon), Paul Elmer Clemente (Deputy Ombudsman for Visayas), Rodolfo Elman (Deputy Ombudsman for Mindanao) and Cyril Ramos (Deputy Ombudsman for the Military and Other Law Enforcement Offices).

“The country deserves a new Ombudsman and Deputies Ombudsman, not because respondents are not qualified or that they are doing a disservice, but because we must follow the rule of law,” the petition stated. — RSJ, GMA News