By Rey G. Panaligan
Supreme Court (SC) Justice Presbitero J. Velasco Jr. has been nominated to replace Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales who is retiring in July this year.
Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) records showed that Velasco was nominated by Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) national president Abdiel Dan Elijah S. Fajardo.
It was not known immediately if Velasco accepted his nomination.
The JBC ended yesterday its search for Morales’ replacement with seven nominees/aspirants.
Earlier, retired SC Justice Arturo D. Brion had nominated SC Justice Teresita J. Leonardo de Castro to the post. But sources said De Castro has declined the nomination.
Velasco and De Castro are retiring in August and October, respectively, this year.
The other aspirants to the post of Ombudsman are Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III, former Sandiganbayan presiding justice Edilberto Sandoval, Davao City regional trial court judge Carlos Espero II, Rowen Apao-Adlawan, Edna Batacan who lawyered for President Duterte, and Duterte’s law school classmate Rex Rico.
It was learned that House Majority Floor Leader Rodolfo Fariñas and Solicitor General Jose C. Calida had declared their respective nominations.
A graduate of public schools, Velasco finished law at the University of the Philippines and placed sixth in the 1971 bar examinations with a grade of 89.85 per cent.
He was a private law practitioner until 1993 until he became a regular member of the JBC in 1993.
He was appointed Department of Justice undersecretary in 1995 until his appointment as associate justice of the Court of Appeals in 1998.
In 2001, he was named court administrator through whose office the SC supervises all lower courts in the country.
