Integrity Philippines --------Pinoy Solutions to Corruption

THE NEW OMBUDSMAN

Pinoy Solutions to Corruption
Media reports & editorials about " PINOY SOLUTIONS"
GUIDE FOR OBSERVING & EVALUATING COURT PERFORMANCE
CONFRONTING THE CULTURAL DIMENSION OF CORRUPTION by Gerald E. Caiden
OPEN GOVERNMENT PARTNERSHIP
SOURCES OF INFORMATION ON CORRUPTION IN THE PHILIPPINES AND ACROSS THE WORLD
DOCUMENTS AND STUDIES ABOUT CORRUPTION IN THE PHILIPPINES
NATIONAL SURVEYS
PINOY SOLUTIONS TO CORRUPTION *** Speech by Ex-Governor Grace Padaca at Silliman University
PINOY SOLUTIONS TO CORRUPTION *** Speech by Senator TG GUINGONA at Silliman University
"A CULTURE OF INTEGRITY" - THE INTEGRITY INITIATIVE & PLEDGE
THE CHIEF JUSTICE SPEAKS ON JUDICIAL REFORM
THE NEW OMBUDSMAN
The New Commission on Audit
NEW COMMISSIONERS AT COA
COA COMMISSIONER HEIDI MENDOZA IN WASHINGTON
COA PARTICIPATION IN MIAMI INTERNATIONAL ICGFM CONFERENCE
EXAMPLES OF COA NEWS AND FINDINGS
HISTORIC CORRUPTION CASES
USING TECHNOLOGY TO FIGHT CORRUPTION
KEY SPEECHES & ARTICLES ON CORRUPTION
SPEECHES AND MORE
WHISTLEBLOWERS
POLITICAL PARTIES
US$434-million Millennium Challenge Corp.Grant
ANTI-CORRUPTION VIDEOS
New Book: KAKISTOCRACY
BOOKS
QUOTES & NOTES
INTERNATIONAL CORRUPTION NEWS -EVENTS-SURVEYS
Good Practices
YOUR INTEGRITY PROFILE
2150 MUSEUM OF POVERTY & CORRUPTION
Ideas from & Comparisons with Other Countries
SPECIAL ARTICLE: TRANSFORMING LEADERS
FINAL NEWS - SEPT. 16 - 23
NEWS - Sept. 1 - 15, 2011
NEWS - AUGUST 23 - 31, 2011
NEWS - AUGUST 15 - 22, 2011
NEWS - AUGUST 9 - 15, 2011
NEWS - AUGUST 1 - 8, 2011
NEWS - JULY 24 - 31, 2011
NEWS - JULY 16-23, 2011
NEWS - JULY 9 - 15, 2011
NEWS - JULY 1 - 8, 2011
NEWS - JUNE 22 - 30, 2011
NEWS - JUNE 11 - 21, 2011
NEWS - JUNE 1 - 10, 2011
NEWS MAY 25 - 31, 2011
NEWS - May 14 - 24, 2011
NEWS - MAY 1 - 13, 2011
NEWS - APRIL 17 - 30
NEWS - APRIL 11 - 16, 2011
NEWS - April 1 - 10, 2011
NEWS - MARCH 22 - 31
NEWS - MARCH 14 - 21
NEWS - March 8 - 14
NEWS - March 1 - 7
NEWS - FEB. 20 - 28
NEWS - FEB. 10 - 19
NEWS - FEB. 1 - 9, 2011
NEWS - Jan. 23 - 31, 2011
NEWS - JAN. 16 -22
NEWS - Jan. 8 - 15
NEWS - Jan. 1 - 7
NEWS DEC. 16 - 31
NEWS - DEC. 1 - 15
NEWS - Nov. 16 - 30
NEWS - Nov. 1 - 15
NEWS - October 15 - 31
NEWS - OCTOBER 1 - 15
NEWS September 16 - 30
NEWS - Sept. 1 - 15
News August 16 - 31
NEWS AUGUST 1 - 15
News - July 18 - 31
News - July 1 - 17
NEWS >>> JUNE 27 - 30
NEWS >>> JUNE 20 - 26
NEWS ... JUNE 13 - 19
NEWS >>> JUNE 6 - 12
SPECIAL: GARCIA PLEA BARGAIN CONTROVERSY
SPECIAL: THE GEN. REYES TRAGEDY
SPECIAL: CORRUPTION IN THE MILITARY
SPECIAL: IMPEACHMENT TRIAL
MAP - MAPping a Culture of Integrity
MAP RECOMMENDATIONS IN RESPONSE TO THE PRESIDENT
EHEM! --- Anti-Corruption Initiative of the Philippine Jesuits
iPro - The Philippines Integrity Project
iPro PROJECT ACTIVITIES
ANTI-CORRUPTION EXPERT TONY KWOK IN MANILA
AIM-HILLS SYMPOSIUM: ANTI-CORRUPTION AGENCY FUNDAMENTALS
iPro Project Photos
2011 REGIONAL ANTI-CORRUPTION COLLOQUIUMS

 

Carpio-Morales: ‘Strong as a mountain mule’

Although I have worked with Justice Chit [Conchita Carpio-Morales] for just a few years, it has been easy to be her friend because, contrary to some misimpressions about her, she is an intensely warm person, affectionate, and sincere to the core.

NEW OMBUDSAMAN

SC Associate Justice Conchita Carpio Morales

Former Supreme Court Associate Justice Conchita Carpio Morales

She is a paradox.  Her tongue is sharp but her actions are kind; she is outwardly severe but inwardly sentimental.

Justice Chit’s father, Lucas Carpio, was a Court of First Instance judge. Her mom, Maria Claudio, was a home economics teacher.  It seems that Justice Chit got her passion for the law from her father and her skills in homemaking from her mom.

When not writing decisions, she does garden work, raising rare plants and flowers.  She also collects beautiful if inexpensive paintings and antiques.  She sometimes dabbles in painting. And she is famous for her pasta dishes.

Justice Chit grew up in Paoay, Ilocos Norte.  She graduated valedictorian in both elementary and high school.  She is a true daughter of Ilocos.  This is the reason I easily identify with her.  My Dad is a hundred percent Ilocano.

Unfortunately, Justice Chit has not been true to one deeply valued Ilocano trait.  She is not kuripot.  From what I learned, she is, I am ashamed to say as an Ilocano, quite generous—to her family, to her friends, and to the needy.  And she loves her staff, treating them often and bringing them pasalubong from her travels.  Justice Chit, how can you disregard our precious Ilocano kuripot heritage?

After high school, Justice Chit went to the University of the Philippines and got a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics.  From there, it seemed natural for her to take up law, following a family tradition.  Her father, several uncles, and three siblings are lawyers.

Gifted with excellent genes, a good head on her shoulders, and perseverance, she pursued the study of law at UP, which has an excellent law school I am willing to concede, next to Ateneo.

Later, her alma mater would recognize the honors Justice Chit has brought to it.  In 2008, during the Centennary celebration of UP, the UP Alumni Association honored Justice Chit “for delivering justice with courage and untrammeled integrity” and for serving as “a shining paragon to all magistrates, worthy of emulation and respect.”

Justice Chit’s career path prepared her for the Supreme Court.  She initially practiced law with the Atienza Tabora Del Rosario Law Offices in Ermita, Manila.  From there, she joined the Department of Justice, becoming Special Assistant, to Secretary Vicente Abad-Santos and Undersecretaries Catalino Macaraig, Jr. and Jesus Borromeo.  She later served as Senior State Counsel.

Because of her father’s incessant prodding, Justice Chit sought to join the judiciary.  But it was not easy.

After some failed efforts, a friend lent her a novena and encouraged her to pray it.  She did.  Months later, in April 1983, President Marcos appointed her RTC Judge of Pili, Camarines Sur.  It was not a coincidence that the novena she had been praying was for the Virgin of Penafrancia, whose feast is annually celebrated in Camarines Sur.

On November 4, 1986, President Corazon Aquino appointed Justice Chit Pasay City RTC Judge, becoming the Executive Judge until 1994 when President Fidel Ramos appointed her to the Court of Appeals.

In 2002, impressed by her sterling record, the JBC [Judicial and Bar Council] unanimously endorsed her for the Supreme Court and President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, her admirer, appointed her to the high court.

As Supreme Court Justice, Justice Chit worked more than she was paid for.

On a typical working day, she would arrive at the office around 6:30 a.m. or almost always before 7:00 a.m.  She had no idle moments.  Her output speaks best of her diligence.  She has in 8 years and 10 months, penned more than 900 full-length decisions and a great assortment of outstanding concurring and dissenting opinions.  She leaves the court with a zero backlog.  Justice Chit! You set such a very high standard for ordinary plodders like me.  You put us to shame.

Seriously, Justice Chit is a lady magistrate of great courage.

Dissenting from the majority views is a habit with her.  Her celebrated dissents include La Bugal B’Laan Tribal Association v. Ramos, where she voted to declare certain provisions of the Philippine Mining Act of 1995 on financial or technical assistance agreements unconstitutional.  Another is Biraogo v. The Philippine Truth Commission where she voted with the minority to uphold the constitutionality of the creation of the Truth Commission.  She is famous for her frank dissent in Cocofed v. Republic where she voted against the conversion of sequestered San Miguel Corporation shares into preferred shares.

Justice Chit fears only God, no one and nothing else.

As a child, she would climb the steep and shaky stairwell of the Paoay Church belfry to the consternation of her parents.  I am told that courage is a trait common to Carpio women.  The girls are taught from childhood to be independent, to fend for themselves, whatever others may say.  They go where they please, honest in their intentions and trusting in their abilities.

In fact, in her recent sabbatical leave, Justice Chit went to Hungary, Slovania, Croatia, and Austria on her own.  She was always of the belief that if you can read and write, you will never get lost.  In contrast, Justice Bersamin cannot travel out of town or abroad without his wife.  Well, for another reason, according to Justice Peralta.

So when I hear people say that Justice Chit just follows Justice Carpio’s vote in the Court, I am simply outraged.

Our Justices, like their equivalent in the United States Supreme Court, simply tend to group into schools of thoughts, the liberals or the activists versus the conservatives.

Justice Chit, like Justice Carpio and lately Justice Sereno, simply tends more to challenge the status quo.  Their philosophies favor change, which explain their frequently common stand.

I can attest that Justice Chit has a mind of her own.  Actually, I suspect that most of the time it is Justice Carpio who follows her vote.

I do not know, Justice Chit, if I should talk about your life of retirement or your next job.

Well, may I just say a few things about both?  Life after retirement should not be dreary.  It is up to you to focus on having a well-earned fun.  Plan to have more time with your newborn grandson, Ennio, and enjoy the desserts of life.  Life does not end until it ends.

Retirement is the time to reminisce.  No doubt you will meet your retired friends more often to talk about what you did in your younger days and discuss the wonders that vitamins and herbs could do to the body.

It will be time for you to visit the old places, savor the memories, and bury the regrets.  At retirement, you will see everything from the top of the mountain.  It should be fun.

And should you be asked to serve as Ombudsman, well, good luck to the forces of evil!

They do not know that at 70 you are as strong as a mountain mule.  Your honesty will of course be your greatest capital.  For you can preach honesty because you are honest.  Still we will have to pray for you if you become the Ombudsman for you will need God at your side.

Justice Chit, you are a friend as friends should be: loyal, honest, and possessed of a keen sense of humor.  We in the court blissfully enjoyed your company.  God bless you!

===========================

Supreme Court associate justice Roberto Abad, appointed to the Court in 2009, delivered this speech on the occasion of the retirement program for Justice Conchita Carpio Morales of the Supreme Court at the Sofitel Hotel, Pasay City, on June 17, 2011.

mabuhayph.jpg

Partner organizations in this website while it was actively publishing news excerpts:

ehemx.jpg

Ehem -- the anti-corruption initiative of the Philippine Jesuits echoes the urgent call for cultural reform against corruption in the Philippines.
Ehem aims at bringing people to a renewed sensitivity to the evil of corruption and its prevalence in ordinary life. It seeks ultimately to make them more intensely aware of their own vulnerability to corruption, their own uncritiqued, often unwitting practice of corruption in daily life.
Ehem hopes to bring people, in the end, to a commitment to live the way of Ehemplo --- critical of corruption, intent on integrity!
 
Management Association of the Philippines 
MAP is a management organization committed to promoting management excellence. The members of the MAP represent a cross-section of CEOs, COOs and other top executives from the top local and multinational companies operating in the country, including some top officials of government and the academe.

iPro supports the process of reducing corruption by seeking synergies between Government of the Republic of the Philippines agencies and civil society at all levels.

 
 
This website primarily serves to gather for research and educational purposes in one single place news and information specifically pertinent to integrity and corruption in the Philippines. The news items, views, editorials and opinions summarized or reported on this website are taken from the general media and reputable blogs, websites, etc., and are exclusively the responsibility of the original sources and/or authors. In accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. Section 107, any copyrighted work on this website is distributed under fair use without profit or payment to those who have expressed an interest in receiving the included information for nonprofit research and educational purposes only. Ref: http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html
                                               E-MAIL: IntegriNews@aol.com                                       iPro
                                                                      

Loading

Free Website Counter
Free Website Counter

tumblr analytics

tumblr tracker