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[av_heading heading=’ABOVE THE LAW ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=’30’ subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY AYIN DREAM D. APLASCA
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Friday, September 1, 2017
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THE President has been questioning the term of office of the present Ombudsman. According to him, the law is clear that she is supposed to serve the remaining time of the person who served before her. Additionally, he said, the term has not been questioned until now.
The President, of course, is referring to no other than Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales. She should have only served the unexpired term of her predecessor, Merceditas Gutierrez, he said. The former’s term should have expired last Feb. 1, 2015, not July 8, 2018 if reckoned for a full seven years.
On the other hand, Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III said the Ombudsman is entitled to a full term. According to what he has read in the Constitution, it should be seven years, her term should not exceed seven years.
How do we reconcile these two arguments?
In line with what the 1987 Philippine Constitution provides, “as distinguished from other constitutional officials, where it is expressly stated that the appointee who assumes the unexpired portion of the term will only serve the unexpired portion.”
Examples of these constitutional officials are the Commission on Audit (COA), the Commission on Elections (Comelec), and the Civil Service Commission (CSC). There is no expressed provision on the Office of the Ombudsman.
The Constitution provides that the appointees to constitutional commissions should only serve the “unexpired portion of the term of the predecessor.”
Ombudsman Morales was appointed by then President Benigno Aquino III last 2011. She took over the post of former Ombudsman Gutierrez who resigned after almost six years in office, amid an impeachment case.
The Constitution also provides guarantees which insulate the Office of the Ombudsman from political influence and interference. Republic Act 6770, the law on the agency’s organization, states that in case of vacancy due to resignation, the Overall Deputy shall serve as Acting Ombudsman in a concurrent capacity “until a new Ombudsman shall have been appointed for a full term.”
Now some cloud of doubt hangs over the Ombudsman. The President publicly doubted her right to the office and authority to decide. Avoidable and off beam, which could have been avoided by checking the law and the Judicial and Bar Council position on the issue.
(Atty. Ayin Dream D. Aplasca practices her profession in Iloilo City. She may be reached thru ayindream.aplasca@gmail.com/PN)
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