Due to his busy schedule, President Benigno Aquino III will not be able to meet all of the four contenders for the Ombudsman post. Aquino said he will most probably be able to talk to only two or three of the candidates chosen by the Judicial and Bar Council, the body that vets and screens nominees for vacant judicial posts. “I haven't met them. I'll be meeting probably not all of them. Probably, at the maximum, three. Chances are just two in my own shortlist of those nominated by the JBC," he told reporters Tuesday after a distribution of social services in Capiz. The candidates are:
Supreme Court justice Conchita Carpio-Morales; incumbent Justice Undersecretary Leah Armamento; Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) commissioner Gerard Mosquera, and former DOJ chief Artemio Tuquero. Aquino said he hopes to be given enough time to meet the candidates. He said it is the Palace appointments office that sets his schedule. Aquino refused to answer question if Carpio-Morales will be among those whom he will meet, saying it will be unfair to other nominees. “Kawawa naman yung dalawa na hindi ko naabisuhan o yung isa na hindi ko kakausapin. Abisuhan ko muna yung mga hindi ko kakausapin," he said. The President has only until August 4 to name the new Ombudsman. Under the 1987 Constitution, a sitting president is mandated to appoint the Ombudsman only from the shortlist prepared by the JBC 90 days after the position was vacated. Former Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez resigned from post in May, days before the Senate convene as an impeachment court to hear the complaints filed against her. — Amita O. Legaspi/KBK, GMA News 
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