Ombudsman aspirants present credentials, volunteer observations, issue promises

MANILA, Philippines—Aspirants to be the next Ombudsman jostled on another on Wednesday to deliver their respective pledges to improve the credibility of an office, which they unanimously claimed to have been affected by the controversies that had bedevilled the last months of former Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez’s term.

One of the candidates, Justice Undersecretary Leah Armamento, pronounced that the allegations hurled against the former Ombudsman had affected the credibility of the Office.

“The perception of the current Office of the Ombudsman is not so good because the former Ombudsman was in favor of the previous administration,” Armamento observed.

Armamento vowed that she would conduct an inventory of pending cases, and implement a case management system to reduce the backlog of cases, if she were to be tapped as the new Ombudsman.

Former Deputy Ombudsman for the Visayas, Pelagio Apostol, revealed that there are a lot of pending cases at the Office of the Ombudsman that need to be addressed.

He also claimed that there were many assistant Ombudsmen who did not work, but instead, only attended conferences.

“We could not question authority otherwise we would be removed from office,” Apostol said. He told JBC members that he would be at a disadvantage if appointed to the top Ombudsman position, “as he had been to the Office of the Ombudsman, and was familiar with the ins and outs of the office.”

When asked for the most important quality an Ombudsman should possess, and if he had it, he intoned, “I am sincere.”

Meanwhile, former Regional Trial Court Judge Alfredo Agawa promised to prioritize high profile cases, once appointed as Ombudsman.

Lawyer Procopio Beltran Jr., on the other hand, said he will zero in on the prosecution of high profile cases if appointed to the post.

The Philippine Constitution tasks the JBC to screen applicants for the Judiciary, and the Office of the Ombudsman. The public interview for the 27 Ombudsman candidates will be held from June 22 to June 29.