Palace plays waiting game on next Ombudsman

Now that the Judicial and Bar Council is complete, Malacañang has started playing the waiting game for the JBC to transmit its recommendations on who should be the next Ombudsman. Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said it is now up to the JBC to play out the processes at this stage of selecting the replacement of resigned Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez. “Alam natin ang magti-trigger ng transmittal ng shortlist, ang JBC to the executive. Wala pang nagiging transmittal, may proseso ang JBC," she said on government-run dzRB radio. Valte said the JBC already published a notice Friday that it is searching for possible replacements. “We have to wait for the process to play out before short list is transmitted to us," she said. Earlier this week, the Palace completed the composition of the JBC by appointing lawyer Ma. Milagros Fernan-Cayosa to the body. Cayosa is the daughter of the late Supreme Court Chief Justice Marcelo Fernan. She is governor of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines Northern Luzon. Last week, President Benigno Aquino III appointed lawyer Jose Mejia, classmate of Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. at the Ateneo Law School. Chief Justice Renato Corona chairs the JBC, whose ex-officio members include Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, Sen. Francis Escudero, and Rep. Niel Tupas Jr. Escudero and Tupas respectively chair the Senate and House committees on justice. The JBC's regular members include retired Supreme Court Justice Regino Hermosisima Jr., lawyer Jose Mejia (academe representative), Justice Aurora Lagman (private sector), and Cayosa (IBP representative). Meanwhile, Malacañang also sought an end to speculations that former Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. will be a candidate for Ombudsman. Valte said Teodoro himself had already declined the post. “Siguro di na natin dapat pagusapan (Perhaps we should not discuss the subject anymore)," she said. But she said Teodoro would not have been covered by the appointment ban on relatives of the president, saying he is a second cousin of President Aquino. “Ang nakalagay doon is after the fourth degree ... ang bawal i-appoint ni Pangulong Aquino. Ang pagkaalam ko second cousin si Mr. Teodoro, so sixth degree (The law bars the appointment of relatives up to the fourth degree. As far as I know, Teodoro is a second cousin of Aquino, making him a relative to the sixth degree)," she said. — LBG, GMA News