Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales said she would be unable to investigate and file charges against those involved in the third batch of pork barrel scam suspects before she retires in July because of her heavy caseload.
“Unfortunately, given the volume of cases that the office is handling, I am afraid we may not be able to finish all PDAF cases,” she said, referring to allegations of the misuse of pork barrel, official known as Priority Development Assistance Fund.
Morales said there are over 6,000 docketed cases as of Dec. 31 last year, and said the heavy workload was “overpowering.”
The next Ombudsman must immediately act on the pending cases and prioritize those involving the PDAF, the Disbursement Acceleration Program, and the P900-million Malampaya fund scams.
She maintained there was no selective justice when the Ombudsman found probable cause to indict former opposition senators Juan Ponce Enrile, Ramon Revilla Jr., and Jinggoy Estrada and charge them for their involvement in the P10-billion PDAF scam allegedly orchestrated by businesswoman Janet Lim Napoles.
“Why were these cases prioritized? First, they are high-profile cases. Second and more importantly, you’d recall that Napoles executed an affidavit naming them, detailing the circumstances that gave rise to these cases,” she said.
“It was easier for us to pass upon these cases because there was this confession of Napoles and of course, independently of that, we have the testimony of Benhur Luy and we have documentary evidence sourced from Luy and sourced elsewhere.”
In an interview with CNN Philippines, Carpio also admitted she was hurt by President Rodrigo Duterte’s tirades.
She angered the President when she said his war on drugs was “goading people to kill.”
She also apologized to Duterte if he thought he was the one whom she was referring to when she recently spoke before the Integrated Bar of the Philippines and said that “great countries do not need strong men but strong institutions.”
“If it happened to be a jab against him or about him, I’m sorry. But that’s a universal principle,” she said.
She said it does not really matter if the President doesn’t consult her on who would be the next Ombudsman. The President is entitled to his own opinion, she said.
Morales, who is about to retire on July 26, said she believes she has performed her job well.
“I can look at anyone straight in the face [to say] I have integrity. I have not done anything below the standard that I want and the standard that I want is you must have independence and you must have integrity. Those are the traits that I want the succeeding Ombudsman to have,” she said.
Morales also hit former Justice secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II for placing Napoles under the witness protection program.
Aguirre’s move was “out of tune,” she said, adding that it was the Ombudsman that should determine if an accused could turn into a state witness or not.
As far as the criminal complaint against former Davao City vice mayor Paolo Duterte is concerned, Morales said the case involved his statements of assets, liabilities and net worth is still pending before the Deputy Ombudsman for Military and Other Law Enforcement Offices.
“What I know is that it has not been terminated yet. I think it has to do with his SALN. I think they segued to the preliminary investigation,” she told the interviewer.