ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Ombudsman Martires: 'OMB has to wait for result of Senate trial on VP Sara's impeachment case'

Ombudsman Martires: 'OMB has to wait for result of Senate trial on VP Sara's impeachment case'

Published Jun 27, 2025 09:15 pm
Ombudsman Samuel R. Martires on Friday, June 27, said the Office of the Ombudsman (OMB) has to wait for the result of the trial of the impeachment case against Vice President Sara Duterte before the Senate sitting as the impeachment court.
Martires explained that the OMB can only conduct a probe on Duterte but not prosecute her since she is an impeachable official.
“What we have at the moment is the power to investigate and not the power to prosecute,” he stressed.
Martires said: The Ombudsman, or any investigating body, has to await the result of the impeachment proceedings. If the impeachment proceedings will result in the conviction of the Vice President, then the Ombudsman or any investigative body, even the Department of Justice, can file the necessary case or criminal case against the Vice President.”
“And even the Ombudsman can file an administrative case against the Vice President if she was already convicted. But if the Vice President is acquitted by the impeachment court, we have no power to charge her,” he stressed.
Thus, Martires pointed out: “We cannot file a case against her, because she is an impeachable official, we have to wait until such time that she’s no longer the Vice President.”
Martires said he could not understand why a lot of lawmakers are nervous about the Ombudsman’s investigation. He said that even if former president Rodrigo Duterte appointed him to his post, he said he is only doing his job.
Earlier, Martires had explained that the OMB started the procedure on its investigation on the basis of the copy of the Committee Report officially furnished to his office by the House of Representatives.
Aside from Duterte, also asked to submit their counter-affidavits were nine other officials from the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Department of Education (DepEd) on the alleged misuse of confidential funds.
The order dated June 19, 2025 was issued by the OMB’s special panel of investigators.
Also ordered to answer the charges were DepEd Special Disbursing Officers Edward D. Fajarda and Gina F. Acosta, Director for Strategic Management Office and Assistant Secretary Atty. Sunshine Charry A. Fajarda, Undersecretary for Administration Ret. Maj. Gen. Nolasco A. Mempin, and Undersecretary for Finance Service Analyn M. Sevilla. For the OVP, those named are Undersecretary and Chief of Staff Atty. Zuleika Lopez, Assistant Secretary and Assistant Chief of Staff Lemuel Ortonio, and Lt. Col. Dennis Nolasco and Col. Raymund Dante P. Lachica of the Vice President Security and Protection Group.
They were asked to submit their counter-affidavits on the basis of the House of Representatives Committee Report No. 1503, dated June 10, 2025, on the reported irregularities in the use of Duterte’s confidential funds for the OVP and DepEd.
They were accused of technical malversation, falsification and use of falsified documents, perjury, bribery, corruption of public officers, plunder, betrayal of public trust, and culpable violation of the Constitution in the Committee Report No. 1503 issued by the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability.
Martires will relinquish his post as Ombudsman on July 27 after finishing his term of seven years.
He was appointed Ombudsman on July 26, 2018 by then president Duterte after the former’s early retirement was approved by the Supreme Court (SC).
Before his SC stint, he also served as associate justice of the Sandiganbayan and as judge of the regional trial court (RTC).
Whatever the outcome of the impeachment proceedings against Vice President Duterte, Martires said that the person who will deal with the probe results would no longer be him, but his successor.
The one who will resolve this problem will be the next Ombudsman, he added.
ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.