Ombudsman leads 2016 Magsaysay awardees

MANILA, Philippines – Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales is one of this year’s recipients of the Ramon Magsaysay Awards, Asia’s equivalent of the Nobel Prize.

The Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation (RMAF) cited Morales, 75, for radically improving the efficacy and credibility of the Office of the Ombudsman (OMB) and showing the way toward a more coherent, concerted action against corruption.

“The board of trustees recognizes Morales’ moral courage and commitment to justice in taking head-on one of the most intractable problems in the Philippines; promoting by her example of incorruptibility, diligence, vision and leadership, the highest ethical standards in public service,” the RMAF said in a statement.

She “raised the independence and quality of the OMB’s fact-finding investigations, evidence build-up, prosecution strategies and case management to ensure that meritorious cases are not sabotaged, withdrawn or dismissed.

She is, quite simply, an inspiring public servant,” RMAF added. 

Morales was appointed by former president Benigno Aquino III in 2011.

From her appointment until 2015, the conviction rate of cases handled by the OMB before the Sandiganbayan rose from 33.3 percent to 74.5 percent, the foundation said.

Morales also prioritized the filing of cases against high-ranking officials, sending a strong signal that OMB is earnest in its anti-corruption campaign, the foundation added.

The OMB recently filed corruption charges before the Sandiganbayan against former vice president Jejomar Binay over the alleged overpriced Makati Parking Building.

The foundation also said Morales is the first ombudsman to use the waiver in the statement of assets, liabilities and net worth – which is required of government officials and employees – as basis to secure bank records in impeaching one of the country’s highest officials.

The RMAF was apparently referring to the impeachment of the late chief justice Renato Corona in May 2012.

Morales expressed gratitude to the RMAF for choosing her as an awardee.

“In choosing me as an awardee, the foundation is also honoring the men and women of the Office of the Ombudsman who have faithfully toiled and persevered with me in our shared commitment to excise the cancer of corruption that has afflicted our country for decades,” she said in a statement.

“As family and colleagues celebrate with me this recognition, I am fully aware that this fight remains a challenging one. Every day we continue to deal with inadequacies in the justice system and vestiges of entitlement among powerful individuals,” she added.

She said the RMAF’s affirmation of the OMB’s work gives her and her co-workers “added inspiration and encouragement to carry on and remain focused, undaunted by those who persist in not only plundering public funds but, more seriously, destroying our moral fabric as a people.”

Aside from Morales, other awardees of the Ramon Magsaysay Award include Bezwada Wilson and Thodur Madabusi Krishna from India, Dompet Dhuafa from Indonesia, Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers from Japan and Vientiane Rescue from Laos.

Morales finished her Bachelor of Arts in Economics in 1964 and Bachelor of Laws in 1968, both from the University of the Philippines. She passed the bar in 1969.

Prior to becoming the ombudsman, she served as Pasay City regional trial court judge, Court of Appeals justice and a Supreme Court associate justice. – With Michael Punongbayan