Simeon V. Marcelo (born October 21, 1953) is a Filipino lawyer and was the third Ombudsman of the Philippines. As Ombudsman, he investigated government officials, including members of the police and the military, who were suspected of committing graft and corruption. He served as the principal private prosecutor in the impeachment case (and as head public prosecutor in the subsequent criminal prosecution for plunder) of former President Joseph Estrada, the 13th President of the Republic of the Philippines. After 3 years as Ombudsman, he resigned due to health problems. He was replaced by Ma. Merceditas N. Gutierrez.
Prior to being the Ombudsman, he was appointed head of the Office of the Solicitor General of the Philippines, representing the Government of the Philippines, its agencies and instrumentalists and its officials and agents in any litigation, proceeding, investigation or matter requiring the services of a lawyer, replacing Justice Ricardo Galvez. Thereafter, Justice Alfredo Benipayo was appointed as his replacement.
Education Marcelo took his undergraduate degree at the Ateneo de Manila University where he finished his Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy with honors. He then took up and finished his Bachelor of Laws at the University of the Philippines College of Law and was among the top ten of the graduating class of 1979. He later placed fifth (with a rating of 89.9%) in the 1979 Philippine Bar Examination. As a law student, he was the recipient of the Crispin Llamado Scholarship Award. He also became a member of academic organizations such as the Pi Gamma Mu International Social Science Honor Society and the Order of the Purple Feather Honor Society. (Philippines Graphic, 15 October 2007, at page 24)
As a litigation lawyer Prior to joining the government, Marcelo was a senior partner and head of the litigation department of then Carpio Villaraza & Cruz Law Offices. As head litigator, Marcelo represented several notable clients. One wealthy former client was property owner Henry Sy, who, in 1993, was threatened with a takeover bid by fellow shareholders in SM Megamall. Marcelo came up against lawyer Estelito Mendoza, who notably represented former then-President Joseph Estrada during Estrada's 2001 impeachment proceedings. This was Marcelo's second legal encounter with Mendoza, the first coming in 1983, when Marcelo helped secure a temporary restraining order for the government to open a textile mill shut down due to suspected smuggling, eventually facing off against then-Solicitor General Mendoza.Men’s Zone, March 2001, page 47
Impeachment of President Estrada
Marcelo first attained national prominence in 2000 during the Senate impeachment trial of then President Joseph Estrada. As the selected lead private trial prosecutor in the first impeachment proceedings against a sitting president, Marcelo presented the prosecution's star witness, Ilocos Sur Gov Luis "Chavit" Singson.
Singson took the witness stand on 13–15 December 2000. The Philippine Daily Inquirer published "House prosecution panel get a big favor", which read:
“Whoever suggested the engagement of the services of lawyer Simeon Marcelo to conduct the direct examination of Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis Singson in yesterday’s hearing did the prosecution a favor. So far, Marcelo appears to be doing the job. He has guided Singson through the maze of transactions he allegedly undertook for the benefit of President Estrada without inviting objections from the defense lawyers.
“Marcelo’s expertise in trial work showed in the case by which he matched the questions with the entries in the ledgers and checks presented to the impeachment court to get the desired answers. He was effective in the use of clear and easy-to-understand Filipino in the conduct of the direct examination. Not only did the use of the native language put Singson at ease in answering his questions, he was able to communicate directly to the part of the radio and TV audience who are not fluent in the English language.” (14 December 2000 issue)
The impeachment proceeding was not completed and there was no resolution of the charges against then President Estrada. During the 16 January 2001 session, a closed envelope that the pro-Estrada Senators (who composed the majority of the Senate) refused to open prompted the prosecution to walk out of the halls of the Senate. The walk-out triggered massive protest rallies known as the Second EDSA Revolution.
Trial of Joseph Estrada
On 9 February 2001, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo appointed Marcelo to head the Office of the Solicitor General. He was appointed as Ombudsman in October 2002. At the age of 49, he became the youngest lawyer ever appointed to this position.
Marcelo was the head of the prosecution panel in the very first criminal prosecution and conviction of a former president. In what is widely acclaimed as the “Trial of the Century”, then Solicitor General Marcelo, who was deputized in April 2001 by then Ombudsman Aniano Desierto as one of the principal prosecutors, initially acted as the “de facto” head of the legal panel that was in charge of prosecuting former President Joseph Estrada for plunder at the Sandiganbayan. He later became the official head of the legal panel when he was appointed Ombudsman in October 2002.
As head of the prosecution team, Marcelo presented three "star" witnesses, namely: Gov. Luis “Chavit” Singson, Clarissa Ocampo and Manuel Curato, of the prosecution.
When he left government service for health reasons in November 2005, Marcelo continued to serve as the “de facto” head of the legal panel that was prosecuting former President Estrada. A month after the effective date (30 November 2005) of his resignation as Ombudsman, he started reviewing all the records, including the transcripts of stenographic notes, of the case and personally drafted the final memorandum for the prosecution for submission to the Sandiganbayan. Further, he, together with the other members of the legal panel, advised then Special Prosecutor Dennis Villa-Ignacio on the cross-examination of the defense witnesses, particularly accused former President Estrada.
On 12 September 2007, after six years of trial, the Sandiganbayan convicted former President Estrada for plunder and sentenced him to reclusion perpetua.
As Solicitor General Marcelo was appointed Solicitor General in February 2001. During his term, he successfully handled before the Supreme Court the recovery of Ferdinand Marcos’ ill-gotten wealth worth over US$680 million. (To date, this is one of the biggest recovery of stolen assets from a corrupt government official worldwide; also, the Supreme Court judgement constituted the first final ruling that the Marcoses had acquired ill-gotten wealth during the late dictator’s regime.) Then Solicitor General Marcelo also successfully handled before the Supreme Court such cases as the constitutionality of the Plunder Law, the revival of the prosecution of senior police officers (including one who is now a member of the Senate) involving the extrajudicial killing of a gang of suspected criminals, the recovery of shares of stock and dividends worth P70 billion in connection with the coconut levy cases and the recovery of stock-holdings worth P26 billion from the family of one of the late dictator’s cronies. (Prior to his assumption of office as Solicitor General in 2001, the Government was able to recover only P26 billion since 1986 from the Marcoses and their cronies.) By far, he is considered to be one of the most successful Solicitors General ever appointed, having won all of the major cases during his term in office.
As Ombudsman In October 2002, he was appointed as Ombudsman. At the age of 49 years, he became the youngest appointee. As Ombudsman, his efforts in battling graft and corruption earned him local and international recognition. Although faced with severe lack of resources, with an operating budget of P350 Million compared to the 2013 budget of the Office of the Ombudsman in the amount of P1.7 billion, he still led a serious and effective crusade against corruption, earning him praises from both foreign and local media, including The Washington Post (p. A14, 10 June 2005), which stated that Marcelo "restored credibility to that organization" (referring to the Office of the Ombudsman).
As Ombudsman, Marcelo led the legal team which successfully prosecuted and secured the conviction of former President Joseph Estrada for plunder. Further, he actively supervised the prosecution of other major high-profile cases before the Sandiganbayan such as the President Diosdado Macapagal Boulevard case, the RSBS Pension Fund cases, the DPWH Repair Scam cases and the Major General Carlos F. Garcia cases.
During his three-year tenure as Ombudsman, upon assuming office, he immediately targeted "the most corrupt agencies, daring to prosecute even members of the historically untouchable military." (p. A14, The Washington Post, 10 June 2005)
Marcelo also investigated and prosecuted included an active major general, several active and recently retired generals and a former chief of staff of the armed forces. He also investigated and prosecuted senior officials of the reputedly most corrupt government agencies, namely: Bureau of Customs, Bureau of Internal Revenue and Department of Public Works and Highways.
On 30 November 2005, due to serious health concerns, principally caused by his one-hundred-hour workweek, Marcelo left government service.
Juan Mercado, a columnist based in Manila, made the following comments about Marcelo’s resignation: "Men of talent, vision and rock-hard integrity are the rarest of resources. That is especially true for nations, like the Philippines, where tainted 'leaders' handcuff us to treadmill crises."
Exasperated by political infighting, George Washington wrote: ‘Few have the virtue to withstand the highest bidder.’ Simeon Marcelo had what it took. International and local observers agree on that.
Street yokels, like us, got a first close look at this 1979 topnotcher during the Estrada impeachment trial.
People liked what they saw then: a talented comer without guile. In Adlai Stevenson’s words, he could ‘lead a cavalry charge without feeling funny astride a horse.’”
The Philippine Human Development Report 2008/2009 succinctly described the performance of the Office of the Ombudsman from its establishment in 1989 under Ombudsman Conrado Vasquez up to the present under Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez:
Table 1.16 SWS rating of the sincerity of the OMB in fighting corruption (2000-2008)
Year Net Sincerity Rating Ombudsman 2000-5 Aniano Desierto 2001+7 2002n.a. Simeon Marcelo 2003+21 2004+28 2005+22 2006+6 Merceditas Gutierrez 2007+9 2008+4
Ratings in 2003-2005 correspond to “moderate” sincerity and in 2006-2008, “mediocre” sincerity.
Source: Transparency and Accountability Network
Insiders have attributed the OMB's inefficiency in the late 1980s and 1990s to a management system, installed by then Ombudsman Conrado Vasquez, that rewarded the fulfillment of quotas, regardless of total workload or complexity of cases, rather than the expeditious disposition of cases [Balgos, 1998]. The system was quite easily abused by prosecutors who would finish easier cases first, meet quotas, and leave the more complex or uninteresting ones untouched for months or years.
Collecting evidence was also a problem. While mandated to investigate, the OMB's Fact-Finding and Intelligence Bureau (FFIB) actually depended heavily on the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI)- in one case waiting seven years for their findings - and the COA. By the end of 1994, the OMB had a backlog of more than 14,500 cases, representing 65 percent of its total workload.