Ex-justice urges elevating Ombudsman, CHR to level of constitutional commissions

A former Supreme Court associate justice on Tuesday proposed elevating the Office of the Ombudsman and the Commission on Human Rights to the level of constitutional commissions to give them full independence from the three branches of the government.

During the House Constitutional Amendments Subcommittee hearing, former SC associate justice Vicente Mendoza proposed several amendments to the 1987 Constitution.

Mendoza primarily suggested renaming Article IX of the Constitution from "Constitutional Commissions" to "Independent Agencies of the Government."

Article IX lists the three independent constitutional commissions: the Civil Service Commission, the Commission on Elections (Comelec), and the Commission on Audit.

"What I propose to do basically is to elevate the Office of the Ombudsman and the Commission on Human Rights to the level of the Civil Service Commission, the Comelec and the Commission on Audit," Mendoza said.

Differences in nature

The former justice explained that even though the Constitution declares all five agencies independent, there are several differences between the nature of the Office of the Ombudsman and the CHR and that of the three constitutional commissions.

He said the three constitutional commissions are collegiate in coming up with decisions. They do not act singly, but as a group.

But in the case of the Ombudsman and the CHR, "only the Ombudsman and only the chairman of the Human Rights make the decision; they are not collegiate," Mendoza said.

Another difference is that the members of the constitutional commissions are appointed by the President with the consent of the Commission on Appointments, Mendoza said.

The Ombudsman, however, is appointed by the President from a list given by the Judicial and Bar Council, he said, while the CHR chairman is appointed solely by the President.

"Because of this, in our political culture, one notices a difference in treatment. The Ombudsman and the CHR are not regarded as independent as the constitutional commissions," Mendoza said.

"The CHR and Ombudsman should, in my opinion, be elevated to the same rank and privilege not of the three departments of the government. They're not co-equal with these three branches of the government but neither are they subordinate to them," he added.

Ombudsman, CHR independence important

Mendoza stressed the importance of an independent Ombudsman and the CHR in the context of the present Filipino society.

For instance, President Rodrigo Duterte has threatened to investigate the Ombudsman for alleged partiality and corruption after the anti-graft office announced the start of its investigation into the alleged multi-billion peso wealth of the President's family.

The CHR, meanwhile, almost received a P1,000 budget from the House of Representatives.

"They're often caught in the crossfire in performance of their functions and they find themselves helpless, no match," Mendoza said.

"So, at least elevate in rank by giving them some help on which to stand, some measure of political support by making the members of the Office of the Ombudsman or at least the Ombudsman herself and the chairman of the CHR appointed by the President with the consent of the Commission on Appointments," he added.

Aside from this, Mendoza has also proposed to make the two agencies "financially invulnerable," wherein they will enjoy fiscal autonomy, their budget allocation will be given automatically and the salaries of the employees will not decrease through their tenure.

"I hope with these, their independence can be more secured and we can more or less ensure that making the concept of 'public office is a public trust' closer to reality," he added.

Judicial and Bar Council

Another amendment proposed by Mendoza was the removal of the justice secretary as ex-officio member of the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) under Article VIII, Section 8, Paragraph 1 of the Constitution.

Instead, a member of the Senate and the House will "sit together" as members of the JBC.

The current provision of the Constitution states that the justice secretary and a representative of the Congress will serve as ex-officio members of the body.

He related this proposed amendment to the provisions of Article 17 of the Constitution.

"The two houses must sit together when proposing amendments to the Constitution or when calling a constitutional convention," Mendoza said.

"And when voting on specific questions, [they] must vote separately because they are sitting together [and] must vote separately in order to protect the smaller house which is the Senate," he added.

The House subcommittee is conducting a series of hearings to consult key resource persons regarding proposed amendments to the Constitution in connection with the proposed shift from a unitary to a federal type of government. — BM, GMA News