Martires denies making midnight appointments

Former Ombudsman Samuel Martires on Tuesday denied making midnight appointments, saying hiring and promotions during his last year as the country's top anti-graft official are necessary.

“Walang midnight appointee dahil hindi naman kami political office (I don’t have a midnight appointee because we are not a political office),” Martires said in Super Radyo dzBB interview.

He was responding to Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla's position that the 204 new hires and newly promoted personnel from May to July 2025 or the last three months of Martires’ tenure as Ombudsman are questionable appointments, if not midnight appointments.

Martires said he asked the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to allow him to hire 60 new lawyers in August 2024 because he wants to do away with the fact finding investigation and as such, merge the fact finding investigation unit with the preliminary investigation unit of the Ombudsman to speed up the resolution of complaints.

He said the DBM approved his request in January 2025, and the opening for new posts were immediately published through the Civil Service Commission. Aside from the 60 new posts, Martires said he also secured DBM approval for hiring of personnel for other plantilla positions in the Ombudsman.

“These 204, mula driver ‘yun hanggang mga lawyer sa taas (That number includes driver up to the lawyers occupying higher positions),” he said.

LIVE sa DZBB: Atty. Samuel Martires, former Ombudsman

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Likewise, Martires defended the promotion of two personnel to Assistant Ombudsman, saying they were promoted due to merit and filled the positions of two Assistant Ombudsman who already retired from service.

“They were appointed to fill in for those two Assistant Ombudsman who retired. They are replacements for the erstwhile vacated posts,” he said.

“Hindi mo pwede itengga ‘yun kasi ito 'yung pinaka-supervisor ng bureau. So immediately it was also published. May nag-qualify, in-appoint,” he added.

(You cannot hold that out because the Assistant Ombudsman position is the supervisor of the bureau. There were people who were qualified, so they were appointed to the post.)

Remulla earlier said that while he is asking 204 new hires to tender courtesy resignation as a show of good faith, his call is more applicable to the 99 of the 204 who are under Salary Grade 25 to Salary Grade 29 or those earning over P160,000 per month. —AOL, GMA Integrated News