SC recommends Martires for ombudsman post

Facade of the Supreme Court Building (Photo By Aerous – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0)

The country’s highest court unanimously recommended Associated Justice Samuel Martires to the soon-to-be-vacated ombudsman post.

Supreme Court (SC) Public Information Office head Theodore Te confirmed this in a press conference on July 17, Tuesday.

According to the court spokesman, Martires obtained 11 votes out of the 12 Justices who were present, since Associate Justices Estela Perlas Bernabe and Benjamin Caguioa were not present during the voting.

SC’s recommendation will be sent to the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) to be considered in its official shortlist.

First Duterte SC appointee

Martires is the first appointee by President Rodrigo Roa Duterte in the High court; he was appointed on March last year.

He replaced retired SC Associate Justice Jose Perez.

Apart from Martires, other candidates for the SC’s recommendation were Ombudsman Special Prosecutor and former Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Edilberto Sandoval and incumbent Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Secretary Silvestre Bello III.

Like Sandoval, Martires previously served in the Sandiganbayan as an Associate Justice.

Outgoing Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales will be retiring on July 26.

Morales has been appointed by different presidents in previous administrations; having served the public since 1971 after scaling different judicial offices like Regional Trial Courts, the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Court of Appeals (CA), the SC, and then the Office of the Ombudsman as her fifth government office.

For the said post, she was appointed by former President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III in 2011.