I am happy this newspaper has decided to give me the opportunity to write a column. The column will help enable me, as Ombudsman, to reach many people. I will try to sound like a layman as much as possible, so more readers will understand me. Let me begin by telling you about the concept of the Ombudsman. It started in Sweden where the need was felt for a public personality outside of the government to whom people, who felt they could not get any help from government, could go.

As such, he was expected to be a statured person, respected in both government and private circles. And he was expected to be someone of well-known competence and of accepted probity, or at least one against whom no serious controversy, with a large element of probability, has been hurled. His moral uprightness, then, was also expected to be beyond question.

As Ombudsman, he was expected to be able to talk freely to all kinds of officials of the land, from the lowest to the highest, and then to persuade them to act one way or another on a grievance coming from the citizens, which the latter could not adequately ventilate via normal channels, such as the courts, nor find fast and adequate redress via the regular administrative machinery of government.

The Ombudsman’s great weapon, then, was simply the power of his personality and his power of persuasion.

Over time, however, the legal personality of the Ombudsman has evolved. It was found that, given the intractability of corruption, the inefficiency and sometimes high-handedness and arrogance of government officials and personnel, it became insufficient for the Ombudsman to merely wield persuasive powers. Instead, he had to be someone whose actions could be enforced within the judicial system. And that meant giving him definitive and legally implementable powers.

In the Philippines, an Ombudsman merely with persuasive powers is how the office that I now occupy had begun. The fundamental law of the land, which created the office, gave him only investigatory powers, but subsequent legislation gave him prosecutorial powers, as well. Not only that. He was also given the power not only to preventively suspend but even dismiss erring government officials and personnel.

Having been given broad powers to address all kinds of wrongdoing in government, today the Ombudsman trains his sights primarily on anomaly and corruption and, to some extent, ineptitude in government.

In the next issue we will talk about the powers of the Ombudsman.  

I welcome reader feedback. Please e-mail me at ombproper@ombudsman.gov.ph.

On Thursday, Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) stocks closed at P63 per share—the lowest in 52 weeks. The electricity distributor’s share price actually hit P60, but bargain-hunters raised it a bit just before the end of trading.

Kudos to the National Competitiveness Council (NCC) and the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) Policy Center for partnering with the World Bank Group’s International Finance Corp. (IFC) in putting together a report on doing business in the Philippines, with emphasis on how big cities can actually improve their respective business environments by improving on regulations affecting business and property registration, as well as licensing.

HAGATNA, Guam—There goes Barack Obama, almost, but not quite, dominating the Democratic race for presidential nomination, smiling amid the Obamarama-chanting crowds while poor Hillary Clinton frowns but is still hoping.

Omerta: ‘Bebot’ Bello—overqualified?

The mountain labored and brought forth a mouse. We refer to the ballyhooed Cabinet “revamp” that President Arroyo herself had announced she would carry out this month.

Ma. Merceditas N. Gutierrez: The concept of the Ombudsman

I am happy this newspaper has decided to give me the opportunity to write a column. The column will help enable me, as Ombudsman, to reach many people.

Andy Mukherjee: Asia has blown chance to destroy oil demand

Asian governments are squirming.

With crude oil near $130 a barrel, their strategy to shield consumers from high energy prices is becoming a drag on national budgets. The unsustainable subsidies and price controls must go, say economists. The problem is with the timing of any such move.

Servant Leader: ‘Spe Salvi’–Part XIX

Love reaches the afterlife 

Some recent theologians are of the opinion that the fire which both burns and saves is Christ Himself, the Judge and Savior. The encounter with Him is the decisive act of judgment. Before His gaze, all falsehood melts away.