Prevention is only cure for corruption–Morales

From the coiffed, suited elegance to the self-effacing smile, nothing in Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales’ appearance suggests the implacable wrath of the winged netherworld goddesses by which Malacañang refers to the Ombudsman and two other female officials assigned to torment and punish the corrupt and the rapacious.

Morales is one of President Aquino’s “Three Furies,” the triumvirate of the Ombudsman, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima and Commission on Audit Chair Grace Pulido-Tan, that Malacañang said would see to the investigation and prosecution of  the infamous pork barrel fund scam.

As head of the Office of the Ombudsman, Morales is the country’s chief public accuser and arguably—particularly after the impeachment and conviction of Chief Justice Renato Corona—one of the main pillars of the nation’s democracy.

Morales, who was plucked from retirement as a Supreme Court associate justice to head the Ombudsman’s Office in 2011, said she shares the “common and valid observation” that corruption has become increasingly systemic in the country.

“No matter how many people we hold liable, no matter how many government officials we send to jail, if the system remains uncured, the vicious cycle of corruption will not stop,” she said.

“The ill-fated system itself will breed the next generation of corrupt leaders,” she said.

“[But] as there is yet no absolute care to corruption, prevention appears to be the only remedy or antidote against the spread of this social malady,” she said.

There is hope

According to Morales, there is still hope, pointing to the Integrity Management Program, the government’s flagship corruption prevention program that offers diagnostic tools designed to systematically assess government agencies’ vulnerabilities and resistance mechanisms to corruption.

She expects the program to address bureaucratic red tape and to issue a “blue certification” seal for fully compliant agencies, a measure meant to stop the flow of bribe money into the system.

At the individual level, Morales said compliance with integrity standards will be used as one of the criteria for the performance evaluation of the employees of the Office of the Ombudsman.

According to Morales, putting the Ombudsman house to order has been difficult considering the volume of the cases and complaints that she inherited from four administrations and the avalanche of fresh cases involving the biggest names in Philippine politics that keep coming.

Morales said she takes the pain and patience to comb through the complaints and evidence, whether they come in trickles or truckloads.

“We try to evaluate cases or complaints that come in, whereas before any complaint from any Tom, Dick or Harry was entertained even if there are no leads,” she said.

“They purport to be serious concerns but actually they are harassment complaints. We try to filter which complaints are really meritorious and which are not,” she said.

From 100 complaints against erring public officials and private individuals received by Office of the Ombudsman before, Morales said the number is now down to 20 to 30.

First death threat

She said this was made possible through the united efforts of “integrity crusaders” in government, particularly the OMB, in reinventing public service.

For her pains, the Ombudsman has received her first death threat following the explosion of the pork barrel controversy, in the form of threatening phone calls.

But this has only made her even more determined to serve.

“Excuse me, I’m not scared. Maybe they are scared, which is why they’re trying to scare me,” she told reporters.

She said the OMB needs more good lawyers but is unable to entice them because of the low pay.

“It’s really difficult to attract good lawyers,” she said.

“The starting fee is P58,000, that’s gross of tax. With the tax, it’s P40,000. How can you compete with private firms? On the part of ladies, that only pays for the lipstick,” she said.

Economist and lawyer

Born on June 19, 1941, Morales, or Chit to friends, has degrees in economics and law from the University of the Philippines.

She first worked at the Atienza Tabora and Del Rosario Law Offices after graduation. In 1971, she became a special assistant to then Justice Secretary Vicente Abad Santos at the Department of Justice where she worked for 12 years.

She began her career at the bench in 1983, when she was appointed Regional Trial Court judge of Pili, Camarines Sur. In 1994, President Fidel Ramos appointed her to the Court of Appeals where she eventually headed the 7th Division.

In 2002, she was elevated to the Supreme Court by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo upon the unanimous endorsement of the members of the Judicial and Bar Council.

Morales, who is a cousin of Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, is married to Eugenio Morales Jr. The couple have two sons.