DBM Usec Lao withdraws application for Deputy Ombudsman

Lao, currently the officer-in-charge of the DBM’s Procurement Service, was supposed to appear in a public interview of candidates for the position set on October 28. (File photo: Department of Budget and Management/Facebook)

MANILA – Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Undersecretary Lloyd Christopher Lao has withdrawn his application for the vacancy of Overall Deputy Ombudsman (ODO) before the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC), a Supreme Court (SC) official said Tuesday.

“This is confirmed. He withdrew his application,” SC spokesperson Brian Keith Hosaka told reporters.

Lao, currently the officer-in-charge of the DBM’s Procurement Service, was supposed to appear in a public interview of candidates for the position set on October 28.

Lao served as Chief Executive Officer and Commissioner of the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB); Undersecretary of the Presidential Management Staff; an Arbiter for Regional Field Office, HLURB – Southern Mindanao Region.

Special Prosecutor Edilberto Sandoval has been acting ODO since June of last year.

Other aspirants for the position are Assistant Ombudsman Jose Balmeo Jr., Jacinto dela Cruz, John Agbayani, Rodolfo Noel Qiumbo, Warren Liong, and Louella Mae Oco-Pesquera.

The ODO, the second-highest position in the Office of the Ombudsman, has been vacant after President Rodrigo Duterte fired Melchor Arthur Carandang from the post after he was found liable for graft and corruption and betrayal of public trust.