Ombudsman says he’s a victim of unfair media reports
OMBUDSMAN Samuel Martires would not budge an inch amid mounting calls for his office to release statements of assets liabilities and net worth (SALN) of President Duterte and other public officials, saying SALNs will not be made public even if he is removed from his post.
“Even if I will be bashed, even if I will be removed from office, I will not bat (an eyelash),” Martires, who was appointed by Duterte in 2018, told the budget hearing yesterday of the House appropriations committee on the Office of the Ombudsman’s P3.9-billion proposed budget for 2022.
Martires, an impeachable official, even asked lawmakers to amend R.A. 6713 or the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees so that those who are commenting on officials’ SALNs could be jailed for as long as five years.
Late last month, Vice President Leni Robredo challenged Duterte to publicize his SALN to prove he is serious in fighting graft and corruption in the face of the Commission on Appointments’ audit report on the Department of Health’s alleged mishandling of its pandemic funds.
Robredo and militant lawmakers have been furnishing media copies of their annual SALNs but the Office of the President deflects requests for Duterte’s SALN and refers them to the Office of the Ombudsman.
Duterte has been drawing flak for his penchant for blatantly defending some officials who are accused of involvement in anomalies and incompetence, often times removing an official only to transfer him to another position instead of ordering thorough investigations.
The Ombudsman, a few days ago rejected a request of a group of lawyers for a copy of the President’s SALN.
Martires said he has been a victim of unfair media stories that implied he earned P15 million in just three months based on his SALN but he was not even asked to explain his side.
He said there should be a law providing “safety nets” so that no person will be allowed to comment on the SALN of a particular government official or employee once it is reported to the public.
“So what I am proposing is to make stringent penalties that anyone who makes a comment on this SALN of a particular government official and employee must likewise be liable for at least an imprisonment of not less than five years,” he added.
Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Carlos Zarate said Martires’ proposal would be extremely dangerous as the public will be penalized even if the Constitution guarantees freedom of expression and enshrines the principles of transparency and accountability.
R.A. No. 6713 prohibits any person from obtaining or using the SALN for purposes “contrary to morals or public policy, or any commercial purpose other than by news and communications media for dissemination to the general public.”
President Duterte’s Executive Order No. 2 on “Freedom of Information” in the Executive branch requires the full public disclosure of, among other public documents, the SALN of all executive officials, including him but this has not happened since the President has not made his SALN public since 2018.
In 2017, the President’s SALN showed he had a declared net worth of P28.5 million.
The EO states that “… all public officials are reminded of their obligation to file and make available for scrutiny their (SALN) in accordance with existing laws, rules and regulations, and the spirit and letter of this Order.”
Section 6 of the order says: “There shall be a legal presumption in favor of access to information, public records and official records. No request for information shall be denied unless it clearly falls under any of the exceptions listed in the inventory or updated inventory of exceptions circularized by the Office of the President provided in the preceding section.”
Martires said he is “willing to be removed from office if only to defend the memorandum circular that I issued last year.”
Under the circular, a copy of the SALN may be given only to an official or his authorized representative, through a court order, for a pending case and if the request was made by the Ombudsman’s Field Investigation Office/Bureau/Unit “for the purpose of conducting fact-finding investigation.”
“In all other instances, no SALN will be furnished to the requester unless he/she presents a notarized letter of authority from the declarant allowing the release of the requested SALN,” the memorandum said.
The Office of the Ombudsman maintains the memo is pursuant RA 6713.
Because of the memo, the public effectively lost access to officials’ SALNs as the media was excluded from the list of those who may be granted access through formal requests.
Martires said he was wondering why the public is so fixated on the SALNs of the President and the Vice President when lower ranking government officials are also vulnerable to graft and corruption.
“Is it only the President and the Vice President who are capable of corruption? Is not corruption starting from the grassroots, from the branch of the clerks?” he said.
Martires said public opinion or yielding to public opinion “is not part of my job description so I will not yield to public opinion to release the SALN of any official in violation of the very Memorandum Circular No. 1 that I issued.”
