Duterte to Ombudsman Morales: You’re not supposed to serve full term

President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday said Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales is not entitled to a full seven-year term, which he said makes her hold on her office "precarious."

Speaking before new appointees in Malacañang, Duterte said Morales is only supposed to serve the remaining term of her predecessor, Merceditas Gutierrez, who resigned from her post in April 2011 days before her impeachment trial.

"But sad to say, recent events show that no less than the Office of the Ombudsman, which is supposedly the embodiment of everything that is just, fair and reasonable, has not exactly lived up to its constitutional mandate," said Duterte of Morales, the aunt of his son-in-law.

"And may I add, your hold to the office is very, very precarious. You are supposed to serve the remaining terms of the guy who resigned, not to a full term. That is very clear under the law. But it has not been questioned until now. I do not know why."

Morales was appointed to the post in July 2011 by then-President Benigno Aquino III.

In a petition filed with the Supreme Court on June 29, lawyer Rey Nathaniel Ifurung said Morales should have ceased holding office on February 1, 2015, the expiration of Gutierrez’s seven-year term.

"Selective justice"

Duterte also accused Morales of dishing out "selective justice" as he mentioned the cases now being faces by some former and incumbent senators, among them former Senator Jinggoy Estrada and Senator Gringo Honasan.

A former prosecutor, Duterte said Morales is "slow to act on complaints against the 'friendly' but quick to decide against perceived ‘hostiles'."

"The Office of the Ombudsman rightly stresses the importance of ‘due process of law.’ Yet it cannot act on complaints with the ‘cold neutrality of an impartial tribunal,’ which is basically required in ‘due process," he said.

"It seems that the Office of the Ombudsman has mastered the art of selective justice," the President added.

Duterte then urged Morales to use "the remaining months of your incumbency the remaining months of your incumbency be truly reflective of your mandate to do justice to everyone without favour or bias."

Morales' term will expire in July next year. —KBK, GMA News