Ombudsman Morales is not that brilliant

President Digong has accused Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales of being harsh on some officials facing charges in her office but lenient toward others accused of the same offense.

The President is correct: Morales has been fast in filing graft or plunder cases against legislators not friendly with P-Noy, but exceedingly slow in doing the same to his allies.

She’s not as clean as the public perceives her to be.

A lawyer friend of mine told me that when Morales was still in the Supreme Court, he saw her and other active and retired associate justices frequenting the office of a Chinese-Filipino businessman who had pending cases before the high tribunal.

And she’s also not as brilliant as many think she is.

Morales ordered the dismissal of four active Navy officers and two enlisted personnel for the death of Ensign Philip Pestaño in 1995 on board BRP Bacolod City.

A forensic expert said Pestaño killed himself, but Morales believed the contention of the victim’s family that his shipmates murdered him.

If Morales had used a little sleuthing and a modicum of common sense, she would have concluded that graduates of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA), like the victim and all those accused of killing him, do not murder each other because the PMA is one big fraternity.

That’s the reason the 1986 coup against dictator Ferdinand Marcos succeeded because officers on both sides, mostly PMAyers, refused to follow orders to shoot at each other.

Besides, if his shipmates had wanted him silenced, they could have shot Pestaño in the head and thrown him overboard while the BRP Bacolod was at sea.

Pestaño could then have simply been declared missing.

Morales also filed a case in the Sandiganbayan against Jose Ma. Sarasola II, former Philippine National Railways (PNR) general manager, leading to his conviction.

The case was for nonremittance by the PNR of an employee’s premium to the Government Service Insurance System.

Had Morales looked closely, she would have found that Joey Sarasola inherited the case from his predecessors.

Why weren’t they also charged?

Ombudsman Morales refused to comment or react to President Digong’s claim that she should have served only the unexpired term of her predecessor, Merceditas Gutierrez, who was forced to resign to avoid impeachment.

That’s because her position is untenable.

She has no delicadeza or sense of propriety, a virtue required of a person holding a lofty judicial position.

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The public welcomes the return of Uber to the streets.

Uber and Grab drivers are much more reliable, honest and courteous than ordinary cab drivers.

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More than 100 policewomen sent to Marawi City to support the government’s rehabilitation efforts are required to wear hijabs.

Since when has the Philippines become a Muslim country?