CONTRARY to reports about the snail-paced Office of the Ombudsman, a party-list lawmaker yesterday cited Acting Ombudsman Orlando C. Casimiro’s performance who was able to give proper action to 3,840 out of 3,854 cases which have been pending in the anti-graft body for the last six years.
This was revealed yesterday by Ang Kasangga party-list Rep. Teodorico Haresco as he lauded Casimiro for giving a renewed image for the Office of Ombudsman which would help defeat corruption in the government.
“I think that this is a good sign. It looks like we now have an Acting Ombudsman who actually devotes time and energy to solve the backlog problem of the Office of the Ombudsman. The speedy disposition of cases without compromising thoroughness and fairness is certainly a positive development at the Office of the Ombudsman. I’m not surprised, however, because from what I hear, Acting Ombudsman Casimiro reports to work as early as 6:30 a.m. every day,” said Haresco.
According to the latest accomplishment report issued by the Office of the Ombudsman, he said the anti-graft body managed to dispose or give appropriate ruling on 3,840 cases representing 99.6% of the 3,854 pending cases in just a little more than a month that Casimiro holds office as acting Ombudsman.
“This is a classic example of the old Filipino adage: Pag gusto may paraan, pag ayaw maraming dahilan,” said Haresco.
With his assumption as Deputy Ombudsman, Casimiro immediately suspended Deputy Ombudsman Emilio Gonzales from further performing official and administrative functions for the Deputy Ombudsman for the Military and Other Law Enforcement Offices, an act that should have been done shortly after he was accused of extortion during the bloody Rizal Park hostage-taking incident.
Casimiro ordered the six-month preventive suspension of former Congressman Prospero Pichay Jr., chair of the Board and Trustees of the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA), for the alleged unlawful investment of P780-Million LWUA funds in the Express Savings Bank Inc., (ESBI), a private banking institution. -30- Ryan Ponce Pacpaco, Journal Online
http://www.journal.com.ph/index.php/news/national/6910-solon-cites-casimiro-as-acting-ombudsman
