Aquino appoints new Deputy Ombudsman

President Benigno Aquino III appointed the acting director of the Register of Deeds in Manila as the new Deputy Ombudsman for the Visayas.

Paul Elmer Clemente, a native of Agusan del Norte, will take over the position vacated by Pelagio Apostol who retired last August. A Deputy Ombudsman has a term of seven years.

The Ombudsman Visayas has yet to receive a memorandum from its central office regarding Clemente’s appointment. “But we’re already informed about it by our central office through a phone call last week,” said a human resource officer of the Ombudsman Visayas who requested anonymity.

“We still don’t know when our new deputy Ombudsman will assume his post. But we’re waiting for him (Clemente),” she added.

She said acting Deputy Ombudsman for the Visayas Rodolfo Elman stopped reporting to the office after he was informed of Clemente’s appointment.

President Aquino chose Clemente over Judge Geraldine Faith Econg and Carla Juris Narvios-Tanco—two Cebuanas who got the top votes from the Judicial and Bar Council panel that submitted the short list of candidates for the position of Deputy  Ombudsman.

Econg currently heads the Project Management Office of the Supreme Court while Tanco is the acting director of the Ombudsman-Visayas Public Assistance and Corruption Prevention Office (PACPO).

Another Cebuano, Commission on Audit chief executive staff Gilbert Kintanar, also  missed the opportunity of serving as deputy Ombudsman for the Visayas.

The other nominee was Presidential Commission on Good Government Commissioner Vicente Gengos Jr.