PRESIDENT Aquino on Monday announced the appointment of just-retired Supreme Court Justice Conchita Carpio-Morales as the new Ombudsman, replacing Merceditas Gutierrez who resigned in April.
The President made the announcement in his second State of the Nation Address, while discussing the irregularities uncovered by his administration.
“When the new Ombudsman, former Supreme Court Justice Conchita Carpio-Morales, takes office, we will have an honest-to-goodness anti-corruption office, not one that condones the corruption and abuses in the government,” he said, eliciting cheers and applause from the lawmakers and the gallery.
Carpio-Morales, who was in the crowd, was prompted to stand up to acknowledge the applause.
“We wish Ombudsman Carpio-Morales luck, and we are confident she will not fail to be what our people expect—a true Tanod ng Bayan,” Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda said in a statement.
Lacierda said the Aquino administration has “consistently emphasized the need to have an Ombudsman who shall act for and in the interest of the Filipino people, one who shall not let the Garcias and Bolantes go scot-free without answering to the people.”
He added that the Ombudsman “must be independent, one of unquestionable integrity, and willing to face the rigorous task of restoring faith in our recovering institutions by ensuring that the corrupt are held accountable for their misdeeds.”
A native of Paoay, Ilocos Norte, she brings with her 42 years of “solid” legal experience in the Executive and Judiciary, with “special interests in anti-corruption and human rights,” Lacierda said.
“Her integrity and impartiality are evident from her years as presiding judge of the Court of Appeals and associate justice of the Supreme Court,” he said.
Carpio-Morales, who bested three other nominees of the Judicial and Bar Council, had been the reported front-runner for the position from the start.
The President chose Carpio-Morales to administer his oath of office as President on June 30, 2010, after questioning the constitutionality of the appointment of Chief Justice Renato Corona, whom he had believed to be a “midnight appointee” of his predecessor.
According to her bionote in the official Supreme Court web site, Carpio-Morales joined the judiciary in 1983 as presiding judge of the Regional Trial Court in Pili, Camarines Sur; she was transferred to the Regional Trial Court in Pasay City three years later.
She was appointed to the Court of Appeals in 1992, then as an associate justice of the Supreme Court in 2002.
Carpio-Morales earned her Bachelor of Arts in 1964 and her Bachelor of Laws in 1968 from the University of the Philippines.
She first worked at the Atienza Tabora and Del Rosario Law offices before she began her 12-year career at the Department of Justice, initially as special assistant to then-Justice Secretary Vicente Abad Santos.
During the UP Centenary in 2008, the UP Alumni Association conferred on Carpio-Morales the Outstanding Award in Championing Justice/Judiciary “for delivering justice with courage and untrammeled integrity” and for being “a shining paragon to all magistrates, worthy of emulation and respect.”
