Forner Deputy Ombudsman Pelagio Apostol packs up his things in the office to bring along to his farm in Antique. (CDN PHOTO/ ADOR MAYOL)
After seven years of serving as Deputy Ombudsman for the Visayas, Pelagio Apostol, is looking forward to doing two things: receiving his retirement benefits and going home to Bugasong in Antique province to farm.
Apostol, 62, retired from government service on Wednesday.
The former Marine soldier worked as a lawyer and certified public accountant before he was appointed Deputy Ombudsman for the Visayas for seven years.
“I’ll return to farming and gardening to unwind, to remove all stress,” said Apostol.
Apostol said he wanted to concentrate on farming for a year and allow himself time to decide what else he wanted to do.
He said he takes pride in increasing the number of employees at the Ombudsman Visayas which helped speed up the resolution of cases. He also established an anti-graft office in Tacloban City and made their extension office in Ilo-ilo fully operational.
“As of now, the Ombudsman Visayas has zero backlog of cases. That means we already resolved all cases filed in 2012 and in earlier years,” he said.
In September 2013, Apostol convinced Tanodbayan Conchita Carpio Morales to re-authorize anti-graft sectoral offices to conduct preliminary investigation and administrative adjudication of cases involving mayors, governors and other top local officials.
Decentralizing the investigation of top local officials expedited the resolution of their cases.
“The Ombudsman central office has been loaded with cases. It was just proper to distribute the work. Local cases should be within the jurisdiction of sectoral offices of the Ombudsman,” Apostol said.
Apostol said cases filed against ranking local officials at their central office before Sept. 2013 would remain there. One of the still unresolved cases include the alleged overpricing in the construction of the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC).
He also investigated high-profile cases like the overpriced decorative lamp posts purchased by the Department of Public Works and Highways in the cities of Cebu, Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu and the purchase of the Balili lot in the City of Naga by former Cebu Gov. Gwen Garcia. Both cases are now pending before the Sandiganbayan.
Apostol was appointed the fourth Deputy Ombudsman for the Visayas since the creation of the anti-graft office in the late 1980s.
He gave a rating of eight when asked to rate the accomplishments made by his office during his seven-year stint.
“A rating of 10 is quite difficult to achieve because no one is perfect. I only give myself an eight because there are still investigations which I started but I would no longer be able to finish,” he said.
Related Stories:
Deputy Ombud aims to leave office with fewer pending cases
Ombudsman sharpens tools vs pork barrel