Is former Ombudsman Samuel Martires allergic to transparency, or simply obsessed with secrecy?
The recent revelation about his decision, allegedly made in secret, to reverse the ruling of his predecessor Conchita Carpio-Morales, on Bible-touting Senator Joel Villanueva’s dismissal reeks of selective justice and political accommodation. It’s a move that throws consistency and accountability out the window, a betrayal of the very office he swore to uphold, no less.
Let’s not mince words: Martires is a Duterte appointee. And under his watch, the Office of the Ombudsman became less the people’s watchdog and more the administration’s guard, and sometimes, even its attack dog. His tenure has been defined by one thing: shielding those in power from scrutiny.
He was the same Ombudsman who made the Statements of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALNs) virtually untouchable, especially those of former President Rodrigo Duterte. The only legal weapon citizens have to detect corruption among public servants is through the SALN, but under Martires, this document was locked away under the guise of “confidentiality,” with data privacy absurdly used as an excuse to hide the truth.
Let’s be honest: invoking data privacy to conceal corruption isn’t just shallow, but moreso idiotic. Public interest outweighs individual privacy when it comes to accountability. The funds being stolen are public funds, and the suffering caused by corruption is borne by the people. They have every right to know who among their leaders are enriching themselves at their expense.
The only way to stop these people from stealing is to expose them. Public disclosure of wealth deters wrongdoing by forcing corrupt officials into the light, and shame, when justified, is a form of justice. If you have nothing to hide, why keep everyone in the dark?
It bears emphasizing that this blackout on the release of SALNs happened only during Martires’ time — courtesy of his benefactor, Duterte. Under the guise of “data privacy,” transparency was killed, accountability buried, and corruption emboldened.
We love to boast of being the only Christian nation in Asia, yet the scale of corruption in our country from ghost flood-control projects to scandal after scandal stinks to high heaven. One can only imagine the angels are nauseating by our hypocrisy.
Such a shallow and infuriating alibi, right, Ombudsman Martires?
And what did that secrecy breed? Unchecked, unabated corruption. From the Pharmally scandal, courtesy of Filipino-Chinese-Indian mafia, where billions in pandemic funds vanished into the pockets of favored suppliers to the magnetic lifters controversy involving 1.6 tons of missing shabu valued at around ₱11 billion, the Duterte administration’s legacy of plunder remains unresolved, uninvestigated, and unpunished. All because a so-called “crime buster” like Martires chose to forget.
Meanwhile, when it comes to figures like Villanueva, whose dismissal was already decided and affirmed under Ombudsman Carpio-Morales, Martires suddenly finds the will to act, but only to reverse a decision grounded in evidence and integrity.
If Ombudsman Martires can quietly undo a ruling made by his predecessor after a thorough investigation, what’s to stop the newly appointed Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla from reversing Martires’ own decisions? Are we now running a Ping-Pong Crime Busting System, where justice depends on who’s holding the paddle?
To his credit, Martires has no known record of personal corruption or amassing wealth from public funds. Perhaps he simply feels indebted to Duterte for his appointment. But public interest must always be the primordial concern of anyone in public service.
And while Martires may not be corrupt, his Omerta-style justice and crime busting unwittingly corrupts the system itself at the expense of the Filipino people.
Public service is a public trust. When every act of accountability is done in secret, when transparency becomes optional, and when loyalty to power trumps loyalty to truth, we are no longer governed by laws but by impunity through secrecy.
That’s not democracy. That’s Omerta, the mafia’s favorite tenet. And when secrecy becomes policy, justice becomes a farce.