Conchita Carpio-Morales

Conchita Carpio-Morales (born Conchita Claudio Carpio; June 19, 1941) is a former Ombudsman of the Philippines serving from 2011 to 2018.

Prior to her appointment as Ombudsman, she held the post of Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines, served in the Lower Courts, as well as in the Department of Justice.

She has secured appointments from five Philippine presidents: Ferdinand Marcos, Corazon Aquino, Fidel Ramos, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, and Benigno Aquino III.

A recipient of the Ramon Magsaysay Award, Carpio-Morales has been cited as a "fearless and indefatigable Ombudsman of the Philippines whose integrity and dignity restored the people's faith in the rule of law."

Conchita "Chit" Claudio Carpio was born on June 19, 1941, in Paoay, Ilocos Norte, to Lucas Dumlao Carpio Sr., a Justice of the Peace (now equivalent to a trial court judge), and Maria Claudio Carpio.

Her father was a member of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente, while her mother was Catholic.

She was baptized as a Catholic.

When she was younger, she played marbles, climbed the Paoay Tower, and memorized Shakespeare's passages on the urging of her father.

She said that she wanted to be a princess and perform in front of people, especially during fiestas.

She also had dreams of being an opera singer.

She says she did not consciously plan to be a lawyer, but grew up surrounded by law books and the Official Gazette.

According to her, "Perhaps subconsciously, I found the law profession exciting."

She attended Paoay Elementary School and spent her high school years at the Paoay North Institute.

She achieved the honour as elementary and high school valedictorian.

She was the only one among her six siblings who did not study in a Catholic school.

Active in extra-curricular activities, the young Chit played volleyball, the piano, and even did ballroom dancing by the time she reached college.

She then earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics at the University of the Philippines (UP), Diliman, in 1964.

In 1968, she earned a Bachelor of Laws from the University of the Philippines College of Law in Diliman.

She passed the bar in 1969.

Her first job was with the private law firm Atienza, Tabora & Del Rosario Law Offices, where she held the post of Assistant Attorney.

She counts Atty. Arturo B. Atienza, her boss at the time, as one of her role models.

Carpio-Morales joined the Department of Justice (DOJ) in 1971 as Special Assistant to then Justice Secretary Vicente Abad Santos, her former law professor and long-time Dean of the UP College of Law.

At the time, she reviewed resolutions of state prosecutors in criminal complaints that were ultimately for the Secretary.

According to her, her experience at the DOJ taught her “to marshal facts correctly.

The most difficult part of deciding the case is marshaling the facts.

The moment that you can marshal them, in the best way you can, then it’s just a matter of applying the law, right or wrong.”

Carpio-Morales mentioned that it was hard for her to find role models among women lawyers, because there was so few of them.

However, she found her role models at the DOJ, whom she described as "...women of integrity, of competence, of uncrackable reputation.” These included Lorna Lombos dela Fuente, then Assistant Chief of the Legal Division of the Department, who became a Court of Appeals Justice, and Assistant Chief State Counsel Minerva Gonzaga Reyes, who become a Supreme Court Justice.

She worked at the DOJ for almost 12 years.

In 1983, former President Ferdinand Marcos appointed Carpio-Morales as a Regional Trial Court (RTC) judge in Pili, Camarines Sur.

President Corazon Aquino, Marcos' successor, then appointed Carpio-Morales as a Pasay RTC judge in 1986.

In 1994, then President Fidel V. Ramos appointed her to the Court of Appeals, where she eventually headed the 7th Division as Associate Justice.

In 2002, upon the unanimous endorsement of the members of the Judicial and Bar Council, Carpio-Morales was appointed to the Supreme Court (SC) as Supreme Court Associate Justice by then-President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

She was only the tenth woman to be appointed to the Supreme Court.

In De Castro v Judicial and Bar Council (2010), the question of whether or not then-President Arroyo was allowed to appoint the next Chief Justice of the Supreme Court was brought to the fore, given that then-outgoing Supreme Court Chief Justice Reynato Puno was retiring within the period that the 1987 Philippine Constitution prohibited the President from making appointments to executive positions.

Three of the Supreme Court justices recused themselves from the case, two said that case was premature, and seven voted to allow the President to choose the next Chief Justice.

Carpio-Morales was the sole dissenter. Supreme Court Associate Justice Renato Corona was then selected by President Arroyo to succeed Chief Justice Puno.

After being elected as the 15th President of the Philippines to replace Arroyo, Benigno Aquino III requested that Carpio-Morales administer his oath-taking.

Traditionally, it is the Supreme Court's Chief Justice who administers the oath of office to the incoming President and Vice President.

However, then-President-elect Aquino refused to have Chief Justice Renato Corona swear him into office due to Aquino's opposition to the midnight appointment.