10 legal luminaries vie for Ombudsman special prosecutor post

The Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) is poised to interview next week several legal luminaries who are aspiring to fill in the post vacated by Special Prosecutor Wendell Barreras-Sulit at the Office of the Ombudsman following her retirement on March 11.

Expected to be called for the JBC’s public interview on May 24 include retired Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Edilberto Sandoval, former Commission on Elections Law Department head Ferdinand Rafanan, Makati City Regional Trial Court Judge Benjamin Pozon, acting Ombudsman Special Prosecutor Omar Sagadal and Polytechnic University of the Philippines law professor Arnold Bayobay.

Other applicants include former Ombudsman in Mindanao lawyer Eusebio Avila, former Ombudsman Prosecution Bureau director Diosdado Calonge and lawyers Francisco Alan Molina, Raymundo Julio Olaguer and Vernand Quijano.

“The public may submit to the JBC a sworn complaint, report or opposition against any of the aforesaid candidates,” the JBC said in an announcement.

Under the Ombudsman Act of 1989, the special prosecutor has a fixed term of seven years.

The special prosecutor of the Ombudsman is empowered to conduct preliminary investigation and pursue the prosecution of criminal cases cognizable by the Sandiganbayan. A special prosecutor has also the power to enter into a plea bargaining agreement, an arrangement that nearly cost Sulit her career at the Ombudsman.

READ: Special prosecutor dares Roque: Name prosecutors on payroll

In 2012, Sulit was sacked by the Office of the President for brokering the deal at the Sandiganbayan that allowed retired Maj. Gen. Carlos Garcia, an accused plunderer, to plead guilty for lesser offenses of money laundering and direct bribery in exchange of returning P135 million out of his P303-million ill-gotten wealth.

She challenged her dismissal before the Court of Appeals, which ordered her reinstatement last year.

The CA said the plea bargain was legal because it was executed under the direct supervision of then-Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez, who was the rightful person to enter into the agreement as representative of the people. JPV