San Jose, Antique – This might come as a surprise but Justice Undersecretary Leah Tanodra-Armamento and Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) Commissioner Gerard Mosquera have Antiqueño blood in their veins.
Armamento hails from the town of Sibalom while Mosquera traces his roots to Culasi. Prior to her appointment as USEC in DOJ by Pres. Aquino, Armamento was a DOJ Assistant Chief State Prosecutor and a member of the peace process team of the government. Meanwhile, Mosquera had a brief stint as Director in the Office of the Ombudsman, and has served as Chief of Party of the United States Agency for Int ernational Development (USAID)’s anti-corruption program in Timor-Leste and played a key role in the creation and organization of East Timor’s first Anti-Corruption Commission. Both, Armamento and Mosquera, graduated from the Ateneo Law School – and have been students of Antique Governor Exequiel B. Javier.
On a phone interview with Javier, he said that both were excellent students. “I am happy that those I taught in Ateneo are becoming successful.”
He added that they are good, honest and proven to have integrity and vouched for their capacity that any one of them can help improve the justice system and the conviction rate of the Ombudsman against corrupt government officials and employees.
“As an Antiqueño I am happy for their nomination,” Javier concluded.
When asked about her nomination, Armamento replied “Daw bukun garing ti husto ang timing nga mahambal ako parte kari-a hay for consideration pa ni president (Benigno Aquino III).”
The two were shortlisted, together with retired SC Associate Justice Conchita Carpio-Morales and former Justice Secretary Artemio Tuquero, by the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) who they will recommend to President Benigno Aquino III to succeed Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez who resigned on May 6, 2011.
The four contenders received five votes each from eight-member JBC headed by Supreme Court (SC) Chief Justice Renato Corona.
The council’s ex-officio members are Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, Sen. Francis Escudero, Senate justice committee chairman; and Rep. Niel Tupas Jr., House justice committee chairman. Retired Justice Regino Hermosisima Jr. (SC representative), Justice Aurora Santiago Lagman(private-sector representative), lawyer Ma. Milagros Fernan-Cayosa (Integrated Bar of the Philippines representative) and lawyer Jose Mejia (academe representative) are among the JBC’s regular members.
A sitting president is mandated by the 1987 Constitution to appoint the Ombudsman only from the shortlist prepared by the JBC. President Aquino has until August 4 — 90 days after the position was vacated — to name Gutierrez’s replacement.
The JBC is the constitutional body tasked to scrutinize, screen, and recommend to the President nominees to the vacancies in the judiciary and to nominees to the positions of Ombudsman and deputy Ombudsman.
The other 22 candidates who vied for the Ombudsman post were Alfredo Agawa, retired Judge; Philip Aguinaldo, Judge; Pelagio Apostol, former deputy Ombudsman for Visayas; Procopio Beltran Jr., lawyer; Emmanuel Bonoan, lawyer; Jose Calida, former Justice undersecretary; Howard Calleja, lawyer for suspended Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) governor Zaldy Ampatuan; Felix Carao, lawyer; Orlando Casimiro, acting Ombudsman; Jose Manuel Diokno, national chair of the Free Legal Assistance Group and De La Salle University College of Law dean; Donato Faylona, lawyer; Ernesto Francisco, advocacy lawyer; Raymundo Francisco, lawyer; Catalino Generillo Jr., lawyer; Portia Hormachuelos, Court of Appeals associate justice; Francis Jardeleza, lawyer; Marlon Manuel, public interest lawyer and head of the Alternative Law Groups; Divinagracia Ongkeko, judge; Renan Ramos, lawyer; Roy Seneres, former Ambassador and National Labor Relations Commission chair; and Florencio Villarin, lawyer.
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