November 12, 2025 l Business Mirror
The Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines (Finex) joined three other leading business organizations in calling out the secret decision of former Ombudsman Samuel R. Martires reversing the 2016 order of then Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales against Senator Joel Villanueva over his alleged misuse of the Priority Development Assistance Fund when he was still a congressman.
The Finex’s joint statement with the Judicial Review Initiative, the Makati Business Club and the Management Association of the Philippines commended current Ombudsman Jesus Crispin C. Remulla for disclosing Martires’s unpublicized reversal, which contravenes the constitutional mandate of transparency as well as the Office of the Ombudsman’s own rules of procedure.
Martires proved to be the Trojan horse of the Duterte administration by entering public life under the banner of integrity yet dismantling transparency from within. His restrictive orders on the disclosure of government officials’ Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) effectively shielded the powerful from scrutiny and weakened one of the country’s last bastions of accountability.
But just as the nation begins to grapple with this breach of trust, another kind of Trojan horse seems to be approaching the gates—this time through the pulpit and not the courtrooms. The upcoming November 16 to November 18 “prayer rally” of the Iglesia ni Cristo, the Kingdom of Jesus Christ and the Jesus is Lord churches has drawn both curiosity and concern.
Organizers frame it as a spiritual gathering and a unifying act of faith amid national uncertainty. Yet its timing, coordination and political resonance have led some to wonder whether it also signals the launch of a new alliance—one where religion becomes the vessel for temporal ambitions. Beneath that choir of righteousness moves a different rhythm that is both partisan and well-funded.
For this is not a vigil for truth: it is a Trojan horse for power. Behind the pious slogans lies calculation; not as a crusade but an expensive show of force meant to weaken the institutions enforcing the law. Its objective, whispered in backrooms, is to cripple the Marcos Jr. administration’s anti-corruption drive and pave the way for a successor more sympathetic to those under investigation.
It seems that the invisible financiers are not the church members but the same networks now facing prosecution: politicians served with Ombudsman subpoenas; contractors exposed for substandard or ghost flood control projects; and bureaucrats flagged by the Department of Justice. The planned massive rally is their insurance policy—an attempt to cloak fear in faith.
At last, the machinery of justice is grinding. Aside from the Ombudsman, other government agencies have unearthed paper trails that lead to offices long considered untouchable. The corrupt are using their vast resources in funding social media campaigns to cloud the issue and portray themselves as victims. It is a spectacle designed to preempt, confuse and delegitimize the ongoing probes closing in on them. Their goal is not faith but diversion; not renewal but survival—while seeking to turn investigators into villains.
Parallelisms with Martires’s maneuver are striking. Restriction of public access to SALNs was justified as protecting privacy, whereas the religious gatherings next week are supposedly exercises of faith. Both operate under the cover of legitimacy and exploit the moral capital of trust. And if unchecked, both will corrode the institutional and ethical foundations of democracy.
This is the Trojan strategy—to portray the corrupt as the persecuted and justice as oppression. But justice cannot be shouted down. The institutions that stand for law must not bend to mere theatrics. When transparency is compromised in government and discernment is suspended in faith, citizens become vulnerable to manipulation from all sides. Trojan horses succeed because those guarding the gates fall asleep—believing that the gift outside is harmless.
As the Filipino nation stands once again at the intersection of faith and politics, the challenge is to keep both sacred and civic institutions vigilant. Justice must never be bartered for loyalty and religion should not be conscripted for power. In the end, it is not the invaders outside the walls who destroy republics, but the trusted figures within—those with smiling conviction who open the gates.
***The views expressed herein are his own and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of his office as well as FINEX. For comments, email nextgenmedia@gmail.com. Photo is from Pinterest.