Ombudsman willing to be removed from office than make SALNs public

(FILE) Ombudsman Samuel Martires. INQUIRER PHOTO / NIÑO JESUS ORBETA

MANILA, Philippines — Ombudsman Samuel Martires is willing to be removed from his post over his stance that the Statements of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALNs) of public officials should not be made public.

During the budget deliberation of his office on Thursday before the House committee on appropriations, Martires said he will not yield to pressure to have the SALNs of public officials released to the public.

There has been a clamor for the government to make documents related to President Rodrigo Duterte public, as his SALNs since 2017 have not been disclosed.

“Even if I will be bashed, even if I will be removed from office, I will not bat into that.  In fact, 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, I am sorry to say that,” he explained.

“I am willing to be removed from office if only to defend the Memorandum Circular that I issued last year,” he added.

Martires also asked why the public is so interested in the SALN of the President and that of the Vice President as if they are the only government officials who are prone to corruption.

In contrast, he said, corruption starts at the grassroots.

“Tapos kami po ang sinisisi na hindi kami nagre-release ng SALN ng presidente, ng bise presidente.  Pinagtataka ko naman po, bakit napaka-interesado natin sa mga SALN ng presidente at bise-presidente?  Bakit hindi tayo interesado sa SALN ng ibang mga opisyal ng gobyerno?” he asked.

(Then we are being blamed for not releasing the SALN of the president, of the vice president.  But I am perplexed as to why we are so interested in the SALN of the president and the vice president?  Why are we not interested in the SALN of other government officials?)

“I really do not know what is the purpose of these people asking for the SALN of the President specifically and the Vice President.  What is in those offices?  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 added.

According to Martires, no amount of criticism will persuade him to make the SALNs public, maintaining that Republic Act No. 6713 of the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees prevents the media from making commentaries on SALNs.

He also mentioned Memorandum Circular No. 1 which he released in September 2020, which aims to limit the number of people who will have access to the SALNs. The issuance of the memorandum drew flak from some sectors.

READ: Group slams Ombudsman for limiting access to public officials’ SALN

“I will not depart from Memorandum Circular No. 1 which was issued in September of 2020, there are conditions thereon when should (we) release the SALN of a particular official.  In the absence of compliance with any of these permissions we are not going to release the SALN no matter how much criticism I will receive,” Martires said.

The Ombudsman said that he himself was a victim of supposed malicious reporting as media outfits made it appear that he gained P15 million in just three months without asking for his side.  Martires said that R.A. No. 6713 only allows the dissemination of the SALN, but not commentaries.

“Because what is happening right now is we compare the SALN of this government official current year and the previous year if there is an increase they would immediately say, ‘o, bakit tumaas ang SALN ni Ombudsman’.  I am a victim of that, I wanted to prove to my staff what the media can do to destroy a government official,” he added.

Just this Monday, a group of lawyers revealed that they tried to obtain a copy of Duterte’s SALN and make it public — on behalf of Senator Leila de Lima. The request said the lawyers, was allegedly denied by the Office of the Ombudsman.

In a Facebook post, lawyers Dino de Leon, Josef Garcia, and Teddy Rigoroso said the Office of the Ombudsman rejected their request based on an earlier circular banning the release of SALNs without the subject’s authorization.

READ: Ombudsman denies request of lawyers to get copy of Duterte’s SALN

READ: Ombudsman rejects De Lima bid to make Duterte SALN public

Under R.A. 6713, public officials are required to file their SALNs as a transparency measure.  In the past, SALNs have been used in the prosecution of public officials.

/MUF