Another candidate for Ombudsman

AMONG THE names being floated for the next Ombudsman is that of Marlon J. Manuel, who may not exactly provoke a spark of recognition among Filipinos but his credentials and track record make him a fitting choice for the country’s top graft-buster.

Manuel is the national coordinator of the Alternative Law Groups (ALG), an alliance of lawyers’ groups working among the poor and championing their causes and, in the words of Christian Monsod in his letter of nomination for Manuel, “doing a good job of it by being thoroughly professional in their work.”

“The underperformance of the Office of the Ombudsman, in its critical task of being the people’s champion against anything illegal, improper, unjust or inefficient in government, is largely due to the fact that the appointing power invariably looks only at the legal credentials of the nominees,” writes Monsod in his letter. “But the job of Ombudsman needs a person with more than legal credentials or judicial experience. It needs a person who also has a genuine passion for justice, with the energy and the courage to doggedly manage, prioritize and pursue cases to their completion. He/she must also command the respect not only of associates and peers but of the bureaucracy.  Because one of his more difficult tasks is to use persuasion on the bureaucracy to change its ways so that it can serve our people better. He must also be capable of mobilizing public support for its work. I have observed Marlon at work under different situations and can vouch that he can do all of these and more.”

What’s more, notes Monsod, in his work with poor communities and poor litigants, Manuel has proven himself a “gifted manager.” “He is the leader of choice when there is a need to coordinate the work of many lawyers, and often including people of different expertise and political persuasions, because not only does he know his law, he is able to grasp issues other than legal. He is patient, genuinely modest and ‘cool’ under fire. He has a maturity beyond his years. In other words, he has the capability to effectively address the inefficiencies and complex tasks of the Office of the Ombudsman,” says Monsod.

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MANUEL, 41, is a law graduate from the Ateneo de Manila Law School and placed fifth in the 1994 bar examinations. He first worked in one of the more prestigious law firms in the country, but after about a year he decided to shift to alternative lawyering, joining the Sentro ng Alternatibong Lingap Panligal (Saligan) which does developmental legal work with farmers, workers, urban poor, women and local communities; and serving as its executive director from 2001 to 2007. Saligan operates in different areas of the country with more than 100 partner-organizations.

He later accepted the position of national coordinator of ALG, which gathers 20 legal NGOs that “adhere to the principles and values of alternative or social development-oriented law practice.”

At the same time, Manuel has been a professor and bar review lecturer at the Ateneo de Manila Law School and the University of Sto. Tomas Faculty of Civil Law.

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IN HIS own nomination of Manuel submitted to the Judicial and Bar Council, former agrarian reform undersecretary Hector Soliman cited the need for the new Ombudsman to be equipped with “collaborative, coordinative and policy making skills.” The new Ombudsman, said Soliman, “has to coordinate closely with allied agencies such as the Civil Service Commission, the Commission on Audit and the courts. (The Office of the Ombudsman) also requires a strong alliance with civil society groups and watchdogs, and various public interest organizations that promote good governance and have an anti-corruption agenda. Marlon has also developed his expertise in relating with government and civil society over the years in various projects that he has handled …. He has the uncanny ability to develop a constituency for good governance and anti-corruption, among government agencies, and most specially, among civil society and civic/business organizations.”

But the most important trait needed for the new Ombudsman, said Soliman, is that he or she “should inspire leadership, confidence and competence, and infuse the bureaucracy with vigor and dynamism, which the institution so clearly lacks.” This, said the former undersecretary, Manuel could do with ease “as proven by his solid track record in dealing with all kinds of people, from the high and the mighty, to the lowliest of the low. A strong empathy for the poor, a strong conviction for the rule of law, and a strong sense of public accountability—these are the driving qualities which make Marlon the best candidate for the position of the Ombudsman.”

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CLEARLY, what sets Marlon Manuel apart from the other notables whose names have cropped up is his rich experience in public interest and human rights lawyering, and his ties to various communities and sectors whose interests are often overlooked in litigation and policy making.

Writing to express his willingness to serve should he be appointed the new Ombudsman, Manuel says that “many people say that the country desperately needs a ‘people’s Ombudsman.’ But the term is a redundancy. A person who claims to be the Tanodbayan should be accountable to the people, and serve them with utmost responsibility, integrity, loyalty and efficiency. Otherwise, such a person does not deserve the position and the noble title.”

He may not be as well-known as the other nominees, but given his experience, the people may be confident that Marlon Manuel will live up to the challenge he has set out for himself.