Morales disputes Duterte on ‘selective justice’ claim

Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales. Photo by JHOANNA BALLARAN/INQUIRER.NET

Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales disputed on Thursday President Rodrigo Duterte’s claim that her office is being selective in handling high-profile cases such as the pork barrel scam.

Speaking to reporters at the sidelines of the Ramon Magsaysay Award at the Cultural Center of the Philippines in Pasay City, Morales said the Office of the Ombudsman’s mandate is to “prioritize” high profile cases involving high ranking officials.

“Alam mo (You know) under the law, the same law that I mentioned, we give priority to high-profile cases, high government officials who hold supervisory positions or cases that involve huge amount of money or big property,” Morales said, referring to the Ombudsman Act of 1989.

“As what as I have always said, sinasabi nila na selective justice daw kami, hindi naman selective, kasi again as I was saying, nung pumasok yung majority of cases at that present time was the opposition during the past administration,” she said.

(As I have always said, they are accusing us of selective justice – we are not selective. Because again as I was saying, when the majority of cases were filed at that time was the opposition during the past administration.)

“In the same manner na ngayon (now), yung opposition in the past administration is now the majority,” she added.

Duterte earlier accused the Office of the Ombudsman of being “slow to act on complaints against the friendly but quick to decide against perceived hostiles.”

He said the office could not “act on complaints with cold neutrality and impartiality.”

Morales said that the cases were swiftly filed against former senators Juan Ponce Enrile, Jinggoy Estrada, and Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. because of Janet Lim-Napoles’ testimonies against the three.

“Nauna yan definitely, hindi ka na naghirap maghanap ng ebidensya of course on top of what you gathered,” she explained.

(Those were filed first, definitely, because you no longer tried hard to find evidence on top of what you’ve gathered.)

The three senators are facing graft and plunder charges before the Sandiganbayan for their alleged involvement in the P10-billion pork barrel scam.