Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales hits back at Duterte
The Ombudsman denies the accusation of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte of being a “master
of selective justice”.
“It seems that the Office of the Ombudsman has mastered the
art of selective justice, harsh on some, soft on others, even when they all
suffer from similar and analogous circumstances, slow to act on complaints
against the friendly, but quick to decide against perceived hostiles.”, the
President said in one of his speeches.
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| Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales is now on the defensive end against the tirades fired at her by President Duterte a "master of selective justice" (photo credit to radio.inquirer.net) |
Carpio-Morales in an interview said, "'I inherited more
than 19,000 cases, dating back as old as 1999, would you believe? Maraming
natulog [A lot were dormant]. Naturally we had to attend to them kasi
aged na nga eh [because they have aged],"
And by December 2016, Morales said the backlog had been
reduced to alittle more than 6,000 pending cases.
She also refuted the President’s claim that she is slow to
act on complaints against those who are ‘friendly’ to her, but moves quickly on
cases involving personalities that are “hostile’ to her.
"We give priority to high profile cases, high
government officials, officials who hold supervisory positions, or cases that
involve a huge amount of money or big property," she pointed out.
Earlier this week, the President criricized Morales for “mastering the art of selective justice”,
saying that she should go beyond friendship and perform her duties as required
by the constitution.
“[The Office of the Ombudsman] cannot act on complaints with
a cold neutrality of an impartial tribunal which is basically required in due
process,” Duterte said.
“The lack of moral courage to do what is right and act
beyond those two twin failings ends up in inequitable decisions. Scratch my
back, and I’ll scratch yours is how some people describe it. It is to me
detestable,” he said. *
On the question of her post being a precarious as described
by Duterte, Morales said she merely followed the law, referring to
Republic Act 6770 or the Ombudsman Act of 1989.
"It says that when the incumbent Ombudsman leaves the
office by reason of death, removal, resignation, or disability, permanent
disability, the overall Deputy Ombudsman shall be the active Ombudsman until a
new Ombudsman is appointed who shall serve for a full term," she said.
Report from cnnphilippines
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