President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday accused Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales of administering “selective justice” for being unable to act on complaints with “cold neutrality” and “impartiality.”
The Office of the Ombudsman rightly stresses the importance of “due process of law.” Yet it cannot act on complaints with the “cold neutrality of an impartial tribunal,” which is basically required in “due process.” It seems that the Office of the Ombudsman has mastered the art of selective justice,”the President said in his speech during the oathtaking of newly appointed government officials at Malacañang.
The Office of the Ombudsman, he continued, appeared to be “slow to act on complaints against the friendly but quick to decide against perceived hostiles.”
“The enemy of the Ombudsman’s friend is the Ombudsman’s enemy too, so it seems. That is how I see it from where I stand,”Duterte said.
The President likewise accused Morales of not being entitled to a full seven-year-term, after simply replacing Merceditas Gutierrez who resigned after serving for six years.
“May I add, your hold to the office is very, very precarious. You’re supposed to serve the remaining terms of the guy who resigned, not to a full term, that is very clear under the law,” he said.
Duterte said that recent events show that the Office of the Ombudsman which is supposedly the embodiment of everything that is just, fair and reasonable, “has not exactly lived up to its constitutional mandate” — criticizing how the Ombudsman had handled the corruption cases against lawmakers in connection with the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF).
Duterte cited the cases of former senators Ramon “Bong” Revilla and Jinggoy Estrada as examples of Morales’ supposed selective justice.
“This is not a brief. Hindi ko man kapartido yang si Estrada pati si…tTaga-Cavite,”the President said, referring to Revilla. “Yung kaso nila hanggang ngayon… You know, it’ sauce for the goose, sauce for the gander. If you allow a certain person to post bail, there is absolutely no ground — legal or otherwise — na bakit ‘ung iba, hindi mo rin gawin?”
Duterte likewise said that Senator Gregorio Honasan, who was charged with two counts of graft on Tuesday, August 1, over the alleged diversion of his pork barrel, was wrongfully accused.
“The latest is Gringo Honasan. Gringo runs sa ano…Wala kaming ano, but naawa ako sa kanya because hindi klaro eh. At ang batting average ng conviction, sinabi ko sa inyo, sa Ombudsman, case is filed, is two to eight. Eight is acquittal, two ang conviction. Bihira.”
He noted that while the Supreme Court allowed former senator Juan Ponce Enrile –also charged of plunder for alleged misuse of the pork barrel scam —to post bail —Revilla and Estrada still remains in jail.
“If you allow a certain person to post bail, there is absolutely no grounds, legal or otherwise,bakit ‘yung iba hindi mo gawin (why don’t you do it for others)?” he asked.
He suggested that he wanted the Ombudsman to “wind down” on their cases.
“Bakit ang Ombudsman, matagal na siya diyan, natapos na si Aquino (Why is the Ombudsman, she’s been there long, Aquino’s term is over), why can’t they just wind up the cases against the senators?” he said.
Duterte said that he is bringing the issue to the open, even if Morales was his “balae.”
“I don’t want to mention this in public, but since we are talking about what is right and what is wrong, then maybe, we should talk about everything, sparing no one.”
