The Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) released yesterday the short list of candidates for the position of Deputy Ombudsman for the Visayas which will be vacant starting Thursday.
Three of the five candidates are from Cebu.
They are Carla Juris Narvios-Tanco, acting director of the Ombudsman Visayas Public Assistance and Corruption Prevention Office (PACPO); former Cebu City Regional Trial Court Judge Geraldine Faith Econg; and Commission on Audit chief executive staff Gilbert Kintanar
Also on the list are Presidential Commission on Good Government Commissioner Vicente Gengos Jr. and Paul Elmer Clemente, acting director of the Register of Deeds.
Deputy Ombudsman for Visayas Pelagio Apostol will vacate the position on August 20, the end of his seven-year term.
“I’m actually not retiring because I already did that in 2007, before I was appointed Deputy Ombudsman. In fact, I’m already receiving a pension from the government.
This Wednesday, I just have to end my seven-year term,” Apostol explained.
President Benigno Aquino III has 90 days to choose his replacement.
Of the five applicants in the shortlist, Econg and Narvios-Tanco got five votes from the JBC panel.
The rest got four votes each.
According to the Supreme Court website, Econg heads the Project Management Office, which was created by the high tribunal to coordinate and manage the technical and administrative aspects of the judicial reform program implementation, particularly the implementation of the Action Program for Judicial Reform (APJR).