Blog sites are spreading false stories that President Rodrigo Duterte will be replacing Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales with PAO chief Acosta, who is a candidate for the position.
The President currently needs to fill two seats at the Supreme Court (SC) as it will be empty this coming December.
According to the article, the Judicial Bar Council (JBC) allegedly released a report that Conchita Morales, who is the current Ombudsman will be resigning this December, after reaching the mandatory retirement age of 75.
The article was picked up by blogs like newsportal.favradio.fm, newsmediaph.com, tartey.com, among others. It was also shared by FB pages “Tatay Digong – Unofficial,” “Inday Sara Supporters,” and “Solid and Loya DuterteCayetano for Federalism” and has been shared thousands of times since it was posted in November.
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Morales was a retired Supreme Court Associate who was appointed by former president Benigno Aquino III as the Ombudsman. She is known for her acts against corruption such as voting in favor of the creation of a Truth Commission, whose aim is to investigate the Arroyo administration, and voting against the constitutionality of the Mining Act, which was greatly pushed during Arroyo’s reign.
She replaced Merceditas Gutierrez who resigned from the post after the Congress voted to enact the impeachment case filed against her after almost six years of holding office.
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The JBC is also said to have booked meetings on November 16 with Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) boss Acosta, Pasig trial court Judge Rowena Adlawan, Sandiganbayan Justice Samuel Martires, Department of Justice (DOJ) Chief State Counsel Ricardo Paras, Court of Appeals (CA) Justice Noel Tijam and legal counselor Rita Jimeno as candidates for the positions.
However, upon closer inspection, we have discovered that the JBC released a shortlist of candidates viable for the two seats which will soon be vacated by Supreme Court Associate Justices Jose Perez and Arturo Brion who are both retiring this December 14 and 29, respectively, after reaching the mandatory age of retirement of 70.
There is no announcement whatsoever of Ombudsman Carpio-Morales’ retirement from her position. In fact, Carpio-Morales is set to serve a full seven-year term which started from her appointment in 2011, as per the Inquirer article that announced her appointment as the new Ombudsman.
Other candidates that were not mentioned before are Presiding Justice Andres Reyes, Justices Rosmari Carandang, Jose Reyes, Stephen Cruz, Apolinario Bruselas and Japar Dimaampao, Sandiganbayan Associate Justice Alex Quiroz, and RTC Judge Reynaldo Daway.
The JBC, indeed, conducted panel interviews for Acosta, Adlawan, Martires, Paras, Tijam and Jimeno on November 16; while three candidates – Court of Appeals Mindanao Executive Justice Romulo Borja, CA Justice Army Lazaro-Javier and lawyer Joseph San Pedro were interviewed on November 17.
Other candidates had been interviewed prior and remain as valid applicants for the vacant SC positions.
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In clarification, the seat of the Ombudsman is still occupied and PAO chief Acosta is actually one of those applying for the replacement of the justices that are set to retire this December.
The fake article seemed to have come from tartey.com, as it was the source cited by the articles being shared on Facebook. And Tartey has published several fake and satire articles before, such as the story about the police raiding and finding drug money at actress Agot Isidro’s house, business tycoon John Gokongwei buying a bulletproof car for Duterte, and the Department of Defense ordering AK47 from Russia instead of the US, among others. We even listed Tartey as one of those sites that have published fake and satire articles.
Sources: (politics.com.ph, news.mb.com.ph, newsinfo.inquirer.net)
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