OMBUDSMAN Conchita Carpio-Morales lauded the Office of the Ombudsman Mindanao for its performance in 2014, citing the office has been diligent in resolving cases involving public officials.
Morales told reporters at the sidelines of the groundbreaking ceremony for Ombudsman-Mindanao new building at GSIS Subdivision in Matina, Davao City that Deputy Ombudsman for Mindanao Rodolfo Elman has employed young lawyers to whom she attributed the good performance of the office.
"I am glad that Elman has been installed as the deputy ombudsman for Mindanao. I was telling him a while ago that he has engaged the services of young fresh lawyers and they have been performing very well," Morales said.
But Morales said there is still room for improvement among the young lawyers.
"I am always after the skills of lawyers. I want to improve them. I want to continue training them and engaging them in seminars and workshops so that they can fast-track the acquisition of skills which are needed in the evaluation of cases, assessment of evidence and in writing action papers because sometimes, it is these instances that the delay is lodged," Morales said.
Elman, on the other hand, said their office has significantly trimmed down the caseload when he assumed office in 2014.
"We had a caseload of something like 2,100 but we were able to reduce more than half of the caseload. As of April 30 of this year, our case load is way below 1,000, about almost 900. It only shows that determination and dedication of our lawyers," Elman said.
The Ombudsman-Mindanao top official also said that he has made it a policy to hire young lawyers that are competent and are persons of integrity.