Former Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales believes that incumbent Ombudsman Samuel Martires might have “misread the law” when he implemented new policies that appear to be in favor of government officials suspected of corrupt activities.“Anyone can misread or misinterpret the law. So probably he misread the law. I’m sorry about that, Ombudsman Martires. He misread the spirit that animated the issuance of the law,” she said.
Martires said that SALNs are sadly being “weaponized” by enemies of government officials, and he said this is not a good indicator of ill-gotten wealth. He added that SALNs are not even required in a corruption investigation. However, Morales said that is no reason to withhold public access to SALNs.
“They do not include the conditions for which a request for copy or reproduction of the SALN as mandated by law,” she said. “In other words, the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards does not require those requirements incorporated in the memorandum of the current Ombudsman.” Despite these policies, Morales does not believe that Martires is coddling public officials. Morales said that Martires “has his own motivations in eschewing that memorandum.”
Martires was favoring & protecting politicians instead of supporting public interest.