UNDAUNTED Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales vows “to remain focused and undaunted” by those who “destroy our moral fabric as a people.”
Despite death threats, she haled to court on corruption charges several high-ranking officials, including a former President, a former Vice President, and several incumbent senators, congressmen and governors.
Such guts and integrity won for Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales a Ramon Magsaysay Award, the Asian equivalent of the Nobel Prize which recognizes individuals who have excelled in government service, public service and community leadership.
Five other individuals and organizations in Asia won the award named after well-loved President Ramon Magsaysay who perished in a plane crash in 1957.
Morales, 75, was cited for her “moral courage and commitment to justice in taking head-on one of the most intractable problems in the Philippines,” the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation (RMAF) said on Wednesday.
The foundation also recognized Morales for promoting the highest ethical standards in public service “by her example of incorruptibility, diligence, vision and leadership.”
‘Cancer of corruption’
Hours after the announcement, Morales said she was “deeply honored” by the recognition and vowed to remain undaunted in her commitment to run after the corrupt.
“In choosing me as an awardee, the foundation is also honoring the men and women of the Office of the Ombudsman who have faithfully toiled and persevered with me in our shared commitment to excise the cancer of corruption that has afflicted our country for decades,” she said in a statement.
Morales, a former Supreme Court justice plucked from retirement in 2011 by then President Benigno Aquino III to become the country’s top graft-buster, acknowledged that her mission was far from over.
“As family and colleagues celebrate with me this recognition, I am fully aware that this fight remains a challenging one. Every day we continue to deal with inadequacies in the justice system and vestiges of entitlement among powerful individuals,” she said.
Morales swore to “remain focused, undaunted by those who persist in not only plundering public funds but, more seriously, destroying our moral fabric as a people.”
Other awardees
The five other 2016 RM awardees were India’s crusader Bezwada Wilson and Karnatic musician Thodur Madabusi Krishna, and three private organizations: the Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers (JOCV), Laos’ Vientiane Rescue, and Indonesia’s Dompet Dhuafa (wallet of the poor).
This year’s six awardees join 312 other Magsaysay laureates to date. They will each receive a certificate, a medallion bearing the image of Magsaysay, and a cash prize in formal ceremonies in Manila on Aug. 31.
“Clearly, they are creating bold solutions to deeply-rooted social problems in their respective societies, problems which are most damaging to the lives of those trapped in poverty, ignorance, prejudice and unjust systems,” RMAF president Carmencita Abella said of the 2016 awardees.
RMAF chair Ramon del Rosario Jr. said the board of trustees found impressive Morales’ independence of mind, lifetime commitment to the pursuit of integrity in government, as well as courage to pursue corruption cases even among the highest government officials.
Morales filed graft cases against former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, former Vice President Jejomar Binay, former Makati Mayor Junjun Binay, and Senators Juan Ponce Enrile, Jinggoy Estrada and Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr., among other officials.
But the Supreme Court, in a controversial decision last week, dismissed the plunder charges against Arroyo for “insufficiency of evidence,” and ordered her released from hospital arrest.
Born to a family of lawyers, Morales finished law at the University of the Philippines in Quezon City in 1968 and passed the bar the following year.
From her post as senior state counsel at the Department of Justice in 1971, she became Regional Trial Court judge in Pili, Camarines Sur province, and in 1994, was appointed associate justice at the Court of Appeals.
Morales became associate justice at the Supreme Court in 2002 and Ombudsman in 2011, when the country’s justice system was “extremely sluggish, cases have mostly involved low-level officials and employees, and public confidence in government’s resolve to root out corruption [was] practically nonexistent,” the RMAF noted.
“Unfazed and quietly determined despite death threats, [Morales] … does not sensationalize her efforts and always works within the law even as she pushes its limits. She is, quite simply, an inspiring public servant,” it added.