Religious workers oppose Martires' candidacy for Ombudsman

A group of Christian religious workers on Monday formally opposed the candidacy of Supreme Court (SC) Associate Justice Samuel Martires for the position of Ombudsman over a supposed ineligibility.

Eighteen Catholic priests, evangelical pastors, and theological sisters filed a six-page letter of opposition against Martires before the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) anchored on his supposed failure to meet the constitutional requirement of probity for the Ombudsman and his or her deputies.

Section 8, Article XI of the Constitution says the top graft buster and his or her deputies should be natural-born Filipinos, at least 40 years old at the time of appointment, of "recognized probity and independence," practicing judges or lawyers in the Philippines for at least 10 years and not have been candidates for any elective post in the immediately preceding polls.

The opposition letter cited Martires' refusal to inhibit himself from hearing and deciding the ouster case against erstwhile Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno and his manner of interrogating the ex-top judge during a case proceeding, which they said disrespected the faithful.

"His patently biased line of questioning during the oral arguments on the connection between 'mental illness' and 'invoking God as the source of personal strength,' 'God as the source of inspiration,' 'God as the source of happiness,' and 'God as the source of everything in life' also betrays a blatant lack of respect for faith-based communities despite the clear Constitutional guarantee mandating respect for religious freedom which as a Justice of the Supreme Court he is bound to observe," the letter said.

"The interrogatories raised by the Hon. Justice Martires cause offense because one cannot make generalizations of the overall mental health of a person based on one's religious belief and practice," it added.

Martires was one of the six SC justices Sereno had wanted, to no avail, out of the quo warranto case against her due to "actual bias," and was eventually one of the eight who voted her out of office.

Sereno had taken issue with Martires' connection of her religiosity to a sign of mental illness, a charge the latter denied, saying "it would be incongruous, if not totally absurd" for him to brand Sereno as "sira ulo" (crazy) on the basis of her faith.

But in their opposition, the religious workers said they viewed Martires' denial as "self-serving, especially in a context where mandatory recusal is demanded by law."

The oppositors accused Martires of "patent abuse of power and authority" due to his supposed dodging of administrative liability for his "unacceptable acts" because he is a sitting member of the high tribunal.

They also cited at least three administrative cases against Martires, saying "[t]he high standard of probity is certainly not met when the candidate for Ombudsman is someone who has been admonished for misconduct and found administratively liable by the Supreme Court."

Sandiganbayan resolutions penned by Martires in 2012 and 2013 that cleared former President Ferdinand Marcos in a P50-billion civil suit and allowed former Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez to plead guilty to a lesser offense than plunder, respectively, also made their way to the arguments raised in the opposition letter.

The oppositors also said Martires' lack of probity shows through his insistence on a "revisionist" historical interpretation over his view that Marcos was "not actually ousted by the Filipino people."

"For the Ombudsman to have been administratively admonished in the  past, for the Ombudsman to have failed to follow mandatory rules such as recusal as a judge, for issuing questionable resolutions,for asserting untruthful historical facts,and for the Ombudsman to have prejudgment against faithful people; all these would besmirch our institutions and would invite discrimination in the highest echelons of our Constitutional government," the letter said.

Martires, who retires from the SC in January next year, is among the 10 candidates for vying for the position of Ombudsman to be vacated by top graft buster Conchita Carpio Morales in July.

Nine of the 10 candidates will be interviewed by the JBC on Wednesday; the tenth, Davao judge Carlos Espero II, was already interviewed for the position of SC associate justice last week. —KG, GMA News