Stop crying persecution, Ombudsman tells pols

Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/NIÑO JESUS ORBETA

OMBUDSMAN Conchita Carpio Morales on Tuesday issued a blistering diatribe against politicians facing graft and corruption charges: “Stop giving the public the impression that you are being politically persecuted.”

“It’s the other way around,” she said in a statement, referring to “detractors” she did not name.

Morales, apparently fed up with accusations her office was being used to further certain political interests, said the Ombudsman did in fact dispense “selective justice.”

“Yes,” she said, “we are selective because the Ombudsman charter, Republic Act No. 6770, mandates us to prioritize cases against high-ranking government officials, complaints involving grave offenses, as well as complaints involving large sums of money or properties or those against big-time plunderers.”

She assailed those facing corruption charges for whining.

“Political harassment has become the standard public relations defense of politicians charged with graft and corruption or plunder,” she said.

“This will not stand in court, and the public is not gullible to believe their claims,” the Ombudsman, who has pursued charges against associates and party mates of President Aquino, said.

Questionable motivation

This week, the camps of two politicians questioned Morales’ motivation for filing cases against them or their allies: Vice President Jejomar Binay, who is running for president, and Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., a vice presidential candidate.

On April 6, Binay’s spokesperson Mon Ilagan said it was a shame the Ombudsman “allows itself to be used as a tool by the administration to harass the political opposition,” reacting to the indictment of some Binay allies.

On the same day, Marcos decried how “justice was turning into politics,” after he was charged with plunder for allocating P205 million of his pork barrel to six bogus nongovernment organizations operated by alleged P10-billion scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles.

Morales said her office did not really care if it was the election season, or whether a respondent in a case belonged to a certain political party.

“We decide only on the basis of evidence,” she said.

“After careful and objective evaluation of the evidence gathered, we immediately file cases, if warranted. We are oblivious of the timing of the filing of cases in court—just as corrupt public officials steal public money every time an opportunity comes,” she said.

Fighting corruption is a 24/7 job, she added. “The office will not be deterred by propaganda and threats from doing our job. As I said in the past, fighting corruption is the reason for my life.”

Real victims

Morales said the Filipino people were the “real victims” whenever corrupt public officials stole public money.

“Every peso lost to corruption means less free medicines for indigent patients in government hospitals and health centers, fewer textbooks and classrooms in public schools, and less food packs for victims of natural disasters,” she said.

She said she was pleased the public seemed appreciative of her efforts, citing the Social Weather Stations’ Bilang Pilipino mobile survey conducted on March 28.

More than half of the respondents had “much trust” in the Office of the Ombudsman, giving the constitutional body a net trust rating of plus 49.