‘No interviews by President Aquino’

Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Abigail Valte on Sunday denied reports that President Aquino had started to interview the four candidates who made it to the Judicial Bar and Council’s short list for Ombudsman.

Valte said over government radio dzRB that she was not sure whether or not Mr. Aquino would take it upon himself to personally interview the four candidates as he did when he decided on the chairmanship of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) earlier.

The four candidates for Ombudsman, the country’s chief graft buster, are retired Supreme Court Justice Conchita Carpio-Morales, Justice Undersecretary Leah Armamento, former Justice Secretary Artemio Toquero and lawyer Gerard Mosquera.

Valte also said Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. has denied rumors he was lobbying for Tuquero to get the job.

“I will have to check with the President what he has in mind, because (the candidates) have already been screened by the JBC,” Valte.

She conceded that the Chief Executive had earlier taken the initiative to interview the candidates for Comelec chair.

Valte said the people should just wait for the announcement of Mr. Aquino’s choice for Ombudsman, pointing out that the deadline for filling the vacancy was Aug. 4.

She reiterated that President Aquino had said he wanted someone who would be “a real Ombudsman of the people; with his or her integrity intact, and one who has both the capability and the drive to do the job” since the Ombudsman’s job entailed hard work.

Asked whether President Aquino would consider Tuquero’s nomination given the fact that the latter had supported the midnight appointment of Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona, which Mr. Aquino had strongly opposed, she said she knew the Chief Executive was “aware” of the position taken by Tuquero.

It was the same position later taken by the Supreme Court.

Valte recalled that during the presidential campaign last year, Aquino’s camp had monitored Tuquero’s position that then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo “had the power to appoint… fill the vacancy for Chief Justice.”

“If I remember correctly, he (Tuquero) even castigated then Senator Aquino for giving (his) position…But whether that will have any effect on his judgment, I cannot say,” Valte said.