Ombudsman is no bargaining chip

Ombudsman is no bargaining chip | Daily Tribune

In times of institutional strain and political drama, the country cannot afford to have its anti-graft bodies perceived as mere pieces on a chessboard, or worse, chips on a casino table.

Constitutional offices were explicitly designed to exist outside the traditional branches of government to insulate them from partisan tides. While politicians are busy counting votes and checking who is sitting where, independent offices must serve as the state’s anchor. They must remain steady, predictable and strictly objective, providing a foundation of law that holds firm regardless of who happens to be holding the gavel this week.

The concern that legal processes can be traded as political currency is a serious one, but it is best answered by the inherent transparency of our institutions. True accountability does not actually happen through sudden, unprompted maneuvers in smoke-filled rooms, no matter how much that sounds like a good political thriller. A quick review of recent complex cases reveals that the road to an indictment is built entirely in the bright light of day.

The foundations of these cases are forged through open, televised legislative inquiries, courtesy of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, which often provides more daytime drama than actual television networks. They are substantiated by written affidavits from witnesses and documentary evidence that are completely accessible to the public.

Furthermore, the formal public pronouncements of the Ombudsman himself serve to explain the strict legal and factual basis for taking action, leaving very little room for imagination. When an investigation is rooted on a clear, public paper trail, it ceases to be a tool for political leverage and becomes what it was always meant to be: An exercise of due process.

Politics must have a hard boundary, and that boundary stops at our constitutional commissions.

If the public loses faith in the independence of these bodies, the very concept of accountability becomes a punchline. The Office of the Ombudsman must remain entirely blind to political majorities, minorities and internal leadership disputes.

By focusing strictly on affidavits, evidence, and the law, independent institutions ensure that justice remains a constant standard, never a currency and always an anchor.