After the Thunder, Who Will Wield the Lightning?

In the hallowed halls of the Batasang Pambansa, before the very lawmakers who craft and control the nation’s coffers, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. unleashed a storm of his own. His words –”palpak,” “guni-guni,” “raket” – were an indictment. He spoke of ghost projects and systemic corruption in flood control, a confession of a rot so deep it has left Filipinos literally underwater.

The thunder of the President’s fourth State of the Nation Address was a stunning reversal. Just one year ago, he boasted of 5,500 completed flood control projects. Now, in the wake of devastating typhoons, he admits many were mere illusions, money-making schemes built on the misery of our people. This is a truth Filipinos already knew in their bones, having seen trillions of pesos – including a staggering PHP1.47 trillion allocated for flood mitigation over the last decade – vanish into projects that crumble at the first rush of water.

We in Western Visayas need no convincing. We see the specter of “palpak” projects not just in our submerged towns but in the still-unusable monuments to waste, like the Aganan flyover. When the President speaks of sham infrastructure, he is speaking our language, describing a reality we live with daily.

But after the thunder of a presidential speech, there must be lightning. A promise to sue, to publish a list of failed projects, and to hold contractors accountable is welcome, but words will wash away with the next flood without a credible, independent institution to enforce them. This is why the most important question facing the nation today is not what the President said, but who he will appoint as the next Ombudsman.

With Ombudsman Samuel Martires’ retirement last July 27, the Philippines stands at a critical juncture. His successor will inherit the monumental task of turning the President’s fiery rhetoric into cold, hard cases. This appointment will be the single greatest litmus test of this administration’s sincerity in its professed war against corruption.

To be fair, the Office of the Ombudsman faces immense challenges. Yet, the tenure of the outgoing Ombudsman has been defined by a policy that has actively hindered the fight for transparency: the severe restriction on public access to the Statements of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALNs) of public officials. This move, under Memorandum Circular No. 1, series of 2020, effectively dismantled one of the most powerful tools available to journalists and watchdog groups for identifying potential ill-gotten wealth. It was a step backward, shielding the powerful from public scrutiny at a time when the Philippines languishes at 115th place out of 180 countries in the 2023 Corruption Perception Index.

The next Ombudsman cannot be another gatekeeper. We do not need a custodian of secrets; we need a crusader.

The new Ombudsman must be a figure of unquestionable integrity and ferocious independence, someone who will not only receive the President’s list of corrupt projects but will proactively demand it. This individual must have the courage to investigate the “SOP,” the “for the boys,” and the congressional “initiatives” that the President himself alluded to, regardless of who is implicated. They must have the conviction to reverse the restrictive SALN policy and restore transparency as a cornerstone of public service.

President Marcos has thrown down the gauntlet. He has directly challenged the culture of kickbacks within his own government and in front of his allies in Congress. It was a moment of high political drama. But without an Ombudsman willing and able to wield the lightning of the law, it was merely theater.

The appointment of the next Ombudsman will reveal the truth behind the SONA’s thunder. Will the President choose a watchdog with teeth, or a lapdog content to guard the secrets of the powerful? The answer will determine whether we finally begin to drain the swamp of corruption, or simply brace for the next deluge.