JBC: Next Ombudsman to serve full 7-year term

The replacement of Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez will not continue her unfinished term but will instead get a full seven-year term of office, said at least three members of the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC). On Monday, Justice Sec. Leila de Lima said the JBC is set to open the application process once Malacañang sends an official notice that the Ombudsman post is vacant. Gutierrez's resignation will take effect on Friday, May 6. In their regular meeting on Monday, the council's members took "judicial notice" of Gutierrez's resignation. De Lima, Senator Francis Escudero, and Iloilo Rep. Niel Tupas Jr. said the council's sentiment is that Gutierrez's replacement should get a fresh seven year-term, pursuant to the Ombudsman Act of 1989 or Republic Act No. 6770. "I submitted an opinion on that legal issue to the Office of the President as early as February this year. I shared with the body that it is for a full term," De Lima told reporters. To which, Escudero added: "Wala namang nag-disagree doon sa body kanina (No one in the body disagreed during the meeting earlier)." "I think that's the sentiment of the majority," Tupas likewise said.

When can aspirants apply? On Friday morning, Gutierrez tendered her resignation to President Benigno Aquino III, which will take effect on May 6 – three days before the scheduled Senate impeachment trial against her. Aquino later said it is now up to the JBC to open the application process for aspirants to the post Gutierrez will vacate. On Monday, Escudero and De Lima said that upon official notice from the Office of the President that Gutierrez's post is vacant, the JBC secretariat can already publish an announcement that the aspirants can start applying. "We need not meet for this. The secretariat can publish right away," said Escudero. The JBC's next meeting is scheduled on May 23. Screening appointees The JBC is the constitutional body that vets, screens, and recommends to the President appointees to the judiciary and appointees to the positions of Ombudsman and deputy Ombudsman. The JBC is composed of the Supreme Court chief justice as ex-officio chair, with the Justice secretary, and chairs of the House and Senate justice committees as ex-officio members. The four other regular members come from representatives of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, the academe, the private sector, and a retired member of the Supreme Court. Section 8 of the law states that in case of a vacancy in the Office of the Ombudsman 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." Merci's impeachment Merci announced her resignation on Friday, 10 days before the Senate impeachment trial against her was about to begin on May 9. Herresignation takes effect on May 6. One of the articles of impeachment against the Ombudsman cited her alleged failure to take immediate action on complaints filed against various officials including former President and incumbent Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. However, as she announced her resignation on Friday, Gutierrez said her loyalty has always been to the Filipino people and not to Arroyo who appointed her to office five years ago. Gutierrez said while she was grateful to Arroyo for having appointed her to office, her "undivided loyalty" was to the Filipino people, and not to the former President. Gutierrez, who was scheduled to retire in December 2012, was accused of the following articles of impeachment: (1) the Office of the Ombudsman has performed dismally as shown by the low conviction rate during her term; (2) the unreasonable failure to take prompt and immediate action on complaints filed against various public officials, including Arroyo and her husband Jose Miguel Arroyo regarding the controversial NBN-ZTE broadband project; (3) the inexcusable delay of the Ombudsman in conducting and concluding its investigation into the wrongful death of Ensign Philip Andrew Pestaño aboard a Philippine navy vessel; (4) inaction on the Fertilizer Fund Scam; (5) inaction on the Mega Pacific deal on the purchase of voting machines; and (6) inaction on the “Euro Generals" issue. - with Kim Tan, VVP, GMA News