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Sunday, November 13, 2005
Ombuds office needs more probers
THE Office of the Ombudsman is asking for additional funds next year so that the anti-graft agency can hire more graft investigators.
In the weekly "Kapihan sa Sulo", Assistant Ombudsman and spokesperson Emily Baliton said the Ombudsman only has 50 resident investigators and the number is not enough to monitor and handle cases against a large number of government officials and employees. At present, Baliton said the ratio is one investigator for every 1.5 million government employees.
"The Ombudsman really needs enough resources. We are looking for more funds," Baliton said. For next year, the Ombudsman is asking for P800 million or a 20 increase from the current year's budget of P647.6 million.
Baliton said the Ombudsman has 2,000 pending graft cases this year while the total number of cases is 17,303 as of 2004.
She said the additional budget could be used to hire more graft investigators and lessen the backlog of pending cases by holding speedy trials.
Baliton said outgoing Ombudsman Simeon Marcelo has instructed officials and employees to strengthen their anti-graft campaign in order to cleanse the government.
He cited in particular the lifestyle check on government officials and employees who have questionable wealth, especially those from the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR); Bureau of Customs (BOC) and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), which are perceived to be havens of graft and corruption.
"Ombudsman Marcelo wanted us to watch carefully the procurement procedures of the government agencies, but we can only do these with enough number of investigators," she said. (JPM/Sunnex)
(November 13, 2005 issue)
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