2016 Ramon Magsaysay Awards: Philippines’s top graft buster can be ‘coy as a kitten’

MANILA, Philippines - She was a retired Supreme Court associate justice when she was nominated to be the country’s chief graft buster in 2011. Having sat in the high court, one would think there were no more hills for her to climb and becoming ombudsman could be seen as a demotion.

But Conchita Carpio-Morales, 70 at the time, felt challenged when age and gender issues cropped up as the selection process for the position began.

In all candor, the ombudsman said she thought seriously about comments like “Matanda na ‘yan (She’s too old)” and “a man is more fit for the job” and instead of getting disheartened, she took them as a challenge.

“So when I was interviewed by the JBC (Judicial and Bar Council), I was already half-decided (to) accept the nomination,” Morales told The STAR in an interview at the Ramon Magsaysay Center in Manila yesterday.

She met members of the media as one of this year’s Ramon Magsaysay awardees, another feather in her cap as public servant.

One could be forgiven for thinking of Morales as always stern and serious, but the ombudsman could surprisingly be very casual and kalog (jolly).

Morales did not have qualms talking about how she got appointed and even the issues that surrounded it before former president Benigno Aquino III finally decided to name her.

It was retired SC associate justice Regino Hermosisima Jr. , a member of the JBC at that time, who asked about the ombudsman being a demotion for her, to which she answered: “Let’s not look at ranking, it’s how you help the country.”

Morales also did not hide the fact that she was aware of the supposed “conflict” between the Balay and Samar groups on who should be appointed by Aquino to the position. The Balay group was widely reported to be led by defeated presidential candidate Manuel Roxas II, who was transportation and then interior secretary of Aquino before he ran; while the Samar faction was supposed to be headed by then executive secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr.

“(At first) I was reluctant,” Morales said, noting that she wanted to enjoy the luxury of retirement. “But I think those souls who recommended me got some deeply ingrained hatred toward me… until the issues on age and gender came in. Nainis ako (I got pissed),” she joked.

The other side

Morales said she was informed by Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation president Carmencita Abella last year that she could be nominated to receive the recognition but forgot about it since “I don’t think I can approximate the qualifications of nominees.”

When she learned from Abella on July 1 that she was elected by the board of trustees to be an awardee for her “moral courage and commitment to justice, taking head-on one of the most intractable problems in the Philippines,” she waited for 27 days for the formal announcement to be made because she was told to keep it a secret.

RMAF cited Morales for her example of incorruptibility, diligence, vision and leadership – the highest ethical standards in public service.

She landed in the news a few days ago for telling a congressman during a budget hearing to “just Google it” when asked about the meaning of ombudsman.

Morales is actually quite tech-savvy, according to one of her staff members. She has Viber on her cellphone and reads her e-mails on her computer. She believes technology is important and she made sure the Office of the Ombudsman must be modernized – providing each lawyer with a laptop or desktop computer when they used to do things by longhand.

“I Google whenever there is something unusual that I come across… Technology is very important… you want to determine the status of the case, you text… ‘Can you give me right away the present status of the case?’” Morales said.

Did it help expedite the resolution of cases? “You cannot resolve cases based on machines, you have to use your coconut (brain).”

There are still a lot of challenges, Morales admitted, and “we want to capacitate our investigators always so we have periodic seminars (and) workshops” because it was tough to fight with seasoned counsels.

“In our case we have good prosecutors but we have a lot of work to do… so we would like to be authorized to engage the services of private lawyers, that’s why we are asking Congress to come up with a bill to allow us to (do that),” Morales said.

The ombudsman, who is retiring in July of 2018, stressed the only legacy she wanted to leave behind would be “my adherence to the rule of law.”

“Well, that’s all. Do not dilute one legacy with another which is less interesting,” she pointed out.

Despite the demands of the various positions she has held throughout what is certainly a storied career in public service, Morales disclosed she has been balancing her roles as career woman, wife, mother and grandmother.

She said did not want to have any bodyguards in the beginning but when a hand grenade was placed along the fence of her house, the military advised that she be given a security detail. But she admits even that is not a guarantee.

“If there is any threat to my life which my security cannot handle, I always say I’m a fatalist, if it’s your time, it’s your time,” Morales said.

Morales admits she also has to deal with the daily traffic woes, traveling from her house in Muntinlupa City to her office in Quezon City, and relaxation can come in the form of a hotel stay, such as the one provided by the RMAF for awardees this year.

“Maybe you should visit me once… if you want to determine how I am at home… as I have always said, I’m a Gemini, twin personality. You can be fierce, you can be soft… at home I can be as coy as a kitten,” Morales said.

Independent

Morales declined to comment on controversial issues that might land in her office, such as President Duterte’s pronouncement that he would like to revisit the pork barrel scam and the SC decision acquitting former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo of the plunder charges against her in connection with the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office fund misuse.

Asked whether she and the President had spoken, Morales said: “No, never.”

Describing him, she said, “Well, if you have to look at what he did in Davao (City as mayor), you would say he’s an excellent leader.”

Morales said the only thing Aquino told her upon her appointment was to “maintain your independence.”

Asked about Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, Morales said, “We are friends. We are both jolly… mischievous.” But that’s all she would say about her, even though they worked together in the same division at the Supreme Court. “I cannot speak for her.”

“There are no political decisions. It’s just a coincidence that the cases of politicians are the ones that come out in the newspapers most of the time, (but) we don’t take into account politics. So our decision is not politically laced,” Morales said, adding, “It’s always a decision based on the evidence.”

She stressed that wisdom, human experience and usual business practices could play a part in the decision-making, depending on the circumstances. Morales said they could tell whoever was lying in their testimonies.

Told that she has become more popular as ombudsman than when she was a justice, Morales agreed. And she has no qualms about having her picture taken with those who recognize her and request for it, wherever she is.

“More often than not, they will approach me,” she said, relating that while queuing for dessert at a hotel one time, someone came to her and told her: “Ma’am, we haven’t met, I am from Zamboanga City but you are my idol.”

For her staff members, Morales is a mentor, strict at the start – from their grammar to wardrobe and punctuality – but has loosened up and become a bit cool after five years.

And, believe it or not, she loves to shop.