Nominees for deputy ombudsman for Luzon down to 4

MANILA, Philippines - The Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) has short-listed four nominees for the position of deputy ombudsman for Luzon vacated by Francis Jardeleza last February after his appointment as solicitor general.

Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) Commissioner Gerard Mosquera topped the list after getting the votes of eight members of the council chaired by Chief Justice Renato Corona of the Supreme Court (SC) in deliberations yesterday.

Mosquera was earlier nominated by the JBC for the position of Ombudsman, which went to retired SC justice Conchita Carpio-Morales.

A graduate of the Ateneo College of Law, he had previously worked at the anti-graft office when Simeon Marcelo was its head.

An insider in the Ombudsman, graft investigator Roque Dator placed second in the shortlist with six votes. A former seminarian, Dator was a graduate of the University of Santo Tomas College of Law.

Mosquera and Dator topped the JBC shortlist for deputy ombudsman for Luzon, from where Jardeleza was handpicked by President Aquino in July last year.

Commission on Elections (Comelec) director Ferdinand Rafanan and lawyer Arthur Melchor Carandang completed the list with five votes each.

Rafanan, a graduate of the University of the Philippines College of Law, was former director of the Comelec’s law department. 

Carandang, on the other hand, is currently a consultant of Morales and has worked before with Marcelo.

Prior to the voting, the JBC had conducted public interview of nominees last March 28. The shortlist would be submitted to the Palace for President Aquino’s decision.

The position of deputy ombudsman for Luzon has a fixed term of seven years under the 1987 Constitution.

Others who vied for the post were Marifi Chua, Marivic Balisi-Umali, Geraldine Faith Econg, Victorio Mario Dimagiba and Office of the Ombudsman officials Diosdado Calonge, Jose de Jesus, Rudiger Falcis II and Raul Marifosque.