In one of his first and most explosive acts as the new head of the nation’s top anti-graft body, Ombudsman Hesus Crispine Remulia has initiated a massive and unprecedented house-cleaning, demanding the “courtesy resignations” of over 200 staff members he suspects are “midnight appointees” from the previous administration.

The move, which affects 204 employees promoted or hired in July during the final days of former Ombudsman Samuel Martirez’s term, has sent shockwaves through the agency. Remulia is questioning the integrity of these last-minute appointments, which filled some of the highest-paid and most “pivotal” positions in the office, and has declared the situation “unfair” to the morale of long-serving personnel.

This is not a simple administrative shuffle. It is a direct challenge to the final acts of his predecessor and a bold declaration that the standards for employment at the Office of the Ombudsman are under new and intense scrutiny.

The core of Remulia’s concern lies in what he perceives as a blatant disregard for merit and seniority. He pointedly criticized the high-level positions granted to new hires, including “fresh lawyers” who were immediately placed in high salary grades.

“Many of these are fresh lawyers whose salary grades are immediately very high,” Remulia stated in a blunt assessment of the situation. “I think it’s unfair to the morale of the other lawyers here that this was done.”

This single act, he implies, has bred resentment and devalued the years of service put in by veteran staff who have worked their way up the ladder. Imagine being a seasoned prosecutor with a decade of experience, only to see a new law graduate hired at a comparable, or even higher, salary grade through a last-minute appointment. This is the morale crisis Remulia claims he has inherited and is now seeking to correct.

The term “midnight appointment” is politically loaded, carrying with it the stench of nepotism, cronyism, and a last-ditch effort by an outgoing administration to entrench its allies and reward its supporters. Remulia did not mince words, stating that the timing and nature of these hires are deeply suspect.

“For them to be hired at the last minute and to occupy pivotal positions… highest-paid positions… at the last minute, I think is questionable,” Remulia explained. “It holds the whole mark of midnight appointments.”

The scale of these questioned appointments is staggering. Of the 204 employees being asked to resign and re-apply, nearly half—almost 100 individuals—hold positions at Salary Grade 25 or higher. This is not the rank-and-file; this is the leadership. The roles in question include special prosecutors and, most alarmingly, two assistant ombudsmen, who hold a Salary Grade 29, just shy of the Ombudsman himself.

These are not symbolic roles. These are the very people entrusted with the agency’s most critical functions.

Ombudsman Remulia stressed that his decision is not just about fairness; it is fundamentally about competence. The Office of the Ombudsman is the primary government agency tasked with investigating and prosecuting corrupt officials. The individuals who hold these high-salary-grade positions are the gatekeepers of public accountability.

“Because these are the people who truly have a say in the functions of this office,” Remulia explained, “from evaluation to PI [preliminary investigation] to prosecution of people.”

If these “pivotal” roles are filled by individuals who lack the experience or the qualifications mandated by the Civil Service Commission—if they were hired for who they knew rather than what they know—the entire mission of the office is compromised. A weak link in this chain, whether at the evaluation, investigation, or prosecution stage, means a plunder case could collapse. A corrupt official could walk free.

Remulia’s demand for “courtesy resignations” is a shrewd political and administrative maneuver. He cannot, in most cases, summarily fire these individuals, many of whom may hold permanent appointments. Instead, by “requesting” their resignation and forcing them to re-apply, he is effectively nullifying their previous appointments and forcing them to be vetted under his standards, not Martirez’s.

It is a public challenge to the legitimacy of their hiring. He is, in effect, daring them to prove their appointments were meritorious. Those who are qualified, presumably, have nothing to fear from a re-application process. Those who were “questionably” hired, however, are now in an untenable position.

This move also casts a long shadow over the final days of former Ombudsman Samuel Martirez. While the new administration has not made direct accusations of wrongdoing against Martirez himself, the action implicitly questions the judgment and motivations behind the former chief’s last-minute hiring spree. It is a public questioning of his legacy. As of this report, GMA Integrated News is still attempting to get a reaction from Martirez, who has so far remained silent on the matter.

The coming weeks will be fraught with tension within the Office of the Ombudsman. Remulia’s gamble is that the short-term disruption of this personnel purge will be worth the long-term gain in integrity, morale, and public trust. He is signaling to the public, and to his own staff, that the era of “questionable” appointments is over and that merit will be the new currency.

The 204 employees now stand at a crossroads: resign quietly, re-apply and hope to meet the new standard, or potentially challenge the new Ombudsman’s “request” in a legal battle that could define the future of the anti-graft body. For the Filipino public, the hope is that this shake-up is the first step toward a stronger, more credible institution, one truly capable of prosecuting corruption at the highest levels.