Morales says SC's ‘decisive’ dismissal of her disbarment case is ‘expected’

The Supreme Court's dismissal of the disbarment complaint failed by defeated senatorial candidate Greco Belgica against her was "expected," Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales said on Saturday.

In a statement, Ombusdman Morales said she also appreciated the high court's "immediate and decisive action" on the petition.

On Tuesday, the High court said the justices unanimously junked the complaint filed by Belgica for lack of merit. 

The SC also cited previous decisions which provide that an impeachable officer like Morales who is a member of the Philippine Bar cannot be charged with disbarment while still in office.

With the dismissal of the petition, Morales said that the Office of the Ombudsman could devote all its time and energy to cleaning up its dockets further of inherited cases and immediately investigating and resolving new complaints.

According to the Office of the Ombudsman, it has been implementing an "unprecedented zero backlog program as part of its case disposal system and the 8-Point Priority Agenda that Ombudsman Carpio Morales laid out at the start of her term."

"From a high of 29,313 cases in its workload in 2011, the current case workload as of December 2016 is down to 12,874 cases due to the zero-back log program," it added.

Morales is currently attending a panel discussion on Leveraging Trade Agreements and International Institutions: Promoting the Rule of Law in the Asia-Pacific in Washington D.C., USA. — MDM, GMA News