Guatemala Comptroller General Carlos Enrique Mencos Morales led a three-member delegation on a visit to the Control Yuan on the morning of April 23, 2018. The delegation, which is in Taiwan at the invitation of the National Audit Office (NAO), was accompanied by Auditor General Lin Ching-long. CY President Chang Po-ya, Vice President Sun Ta-chuan, and Deputy Secretary-General Hsu Hai-chuan received the visiting dignitaries. They engaged in open and friendly exchanges of views relating to the ombudsman and audit systems of the two countries.
During the meeting, President Chang gave a brief introduction on the functions and powers of the CY, including receiving people’s complaints, conducting circuit supervision, enforcing the Sunshine Acts, and receiving assets declaration by public functionaries, all of which aim to promote good governance and protect human rights. She also explained how the NAO and the CY work together in reviewing and examining government finances.
President Chang also mentioned that the CY has regularly attended the annual conference of the Federación Iberoamericana del Ombudsman (FIO) as an observer and maintains friendly relations with the countries of Latin America. In addition, she noted that the CY signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Human Rights Ombudsman Office of Guatemala in 2014.
President Chang stated that Latin American countries, too, have agencies to maintain checks and balances and to monitor the executive branch for any violations of the law, such as Defensor del Pueblo, Procuraduría de los Derechos Humanos and Comisionado Nacional de los Derechos Humanos. Although the names of these institutions may differ from those of the Republic of China on Taiwan, their purpose is the same, namely independent supervision to ensure good governance and protection of human rights.
For his part, Comptroller General Morales said he was impressed by the comprehensiveness of the Control Yuan’s powers and functions. He displayed much interest in the details of the CY’s handling of complaints, asking a range of questions such as the number of complaints received and the average time to respond, whether complainants’ identities are disclosed, whether criminal prosecution is pursued against those investigated, and so on. He also shared some of the differences with the Control Yuan in how his institution operates, including, for instance, that it receives declarations of assets by public functionaries but does not publish the data, and that it accepts anonymous complaints via phone and email.
At the conclusion of the visit, his second to the Control Yuan, Comptroller General Morales thanked President Chang for the warm hospitality and stated the visit had been fruitful in terms of experience-exchanges and would serve as a valuable reference in working to further improve the administration of Guatemala’s ombudsman.