Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales. Photo by JULLIANE LOVE DE JESUS/INQUIRER.net
Upon receiving her 2016 Ramon Magsaysay Award, Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales reiterated on Wednesday the pro-poor slogan of the late President, whom she said had made the country clean and corrupt-free, that “those who have less in life should have more in law.”
“I hope that our shared crusade results to the succeeding generations of Filipinos who will not allow corruption to tear the protective mantle of the rule of law, the anchor of our democracy, but it is up to us to stay safely anchored or drift into the dangerous currents of anarchy,” Morales said in her acceptance speech during the awarding ceremony at the Cultural Center of the Philippines.
“It’s up to us to earn the distinction of being a society that lives by the credo of President Magsaysay that those who have less in life should have more in law,” she said, adding that the late President’s tenure was “one of the cleanest and most corrupt-free in the history of our country.”
“We should look back to this glorious past as guiding light in our search for leaders of the same persuasion: Children should never lose faith, children should never lose hope,” the Ombudsman said.
Morales said she will receive the award, the Asia’s equivalent of the Nobel Prize, on behalf of the Office of the Ombudsman personnel, anti-corruption advocates, including the media, civil society workers and good governance volunteers.
“They are the real heroes in the fight against corruption,” she said.
Aside from Morales, who accepted the award in her emerald green Filipiniana, the other awardees were Bezwada Wilson and Thodur Madabusi Krishna from India, Dompet Dhuafa from Indonesia, Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers from Japan and Vientiane Rescue from Laos.
She was recognized by the Ramon Magsaysay foundation for “her moral courage and commitment to justice in taking head-on one of the most intractable problems of the Philippines; promoting by her example of incorruptibility, diligence, vision and leadership the highest ethical standards in public service.”
Morales was appointed by former President Benigno Aquino III in 2011 and the fifth ombudsman since the office was established in 1998.
She was lauded for filing cases against high-ranking officials, including a former president, former vice president, incumbent senators, congressmen and governors.
From 2011 to 2015, Morales raised the conviction rate of cases the anti-graft body handled before the Sandiganbayan from 33.3 percent to 74.5 percent.
Morales obtained her Bachelor of Arts in Economics in 1964 and Bachelor of Laws in 1968, both from the University of the Philippines. Before being the Ombudsman, she served as Pasay City Regional Trial Court Judge, Court of Appeals Justice and a Supreme Court Associate Justice.