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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Ex-Ombudsman Carpio-Morales reveals being offered ICI post, but...

Ex-Ombudsman Carpio-Morales reveals being offered ICI post, but...

Published Oct 7, 2025 01:21 pm

At A Glance

  • Former Ombudsman and Supreme Court (SC) associate justice Conchita Carpio-Morales revealed that she was offered a seat at the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI), but Malacañang supposedly did not get back to her when she laid out her conditions to accept the position. including non-interference by anybody.
Former Ombudsman and Supreme Court (SC) associate justice Conchita Carpio-Morales revealed that she was offered a seat at the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI), but Malacañang supposedly did not get back to her when she laid out her conditions to accept the position. including non-interference by anybody.
Carpio-Morales, in an interview with veteran journalist Karen Davila, said she "was asked to be the legal representative" of the ICI, which needed experts in the legal, engineering, and accounting industries.
"I don’t know if I should reveal this publicly. Yes I was asked. I was asked to be the legal representative because they said they wanted an engineer… they wanted an accountant… and they wanted a lawyer," she said in a video interview posted on Davila's YouTube account.
"So they tapped me. And I said, I’m too old for that. And then they said, no you are not. And I said, I don’t think I can handle that. And they said, you can… please, for the love of country," she narrated.
Without naming who contacted her, Carpio-Morales said the administration "insisted" that she must accept the role and that she must decide within two hours.
The former Ombudsman said she subsequently laid out her condition: "if and when and I should be there, I don’t want anybody to interfere with my work," she told her recruiter.
Carpio-Morales waited two hours for a return call, but it "never came".
"Neither did I call, why should I? Was I sallivating? No way," she added.
Asked by Davila what could have been the reason why she was not called back, she said, "Maybe of course there were a lot of conjectures—that could have been one of the reasons."
Carpio-Morales said she would not have also allowed the hearing to be held behind closed doors, like what is happening right now. 
She noted that a related investigation in the Senate was being livestreamed.
Despite mounting calls from the public, ICI maintained that it would conduct its deliberations in a private manner to avoid it being used for political agenda.
"If they have accepted my conditions, I would have probably taken it. Hold hearings in secrecy? I would not have allowed that. So I would probably have been fired," she added.
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