Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla said he plans to cut down the period spent on the evaluation, fact-finding, and preliminary investigation of the complaints filed before the Office of the Ombudsman (OMB).

During a press briefing on Tuesday, Oct. 21, Remulla said the government lost about P600 billion worth of cases due to inordinate delay and “it’s quite alarming.” He did not, however, cite the details of the losses.

He said he wanted the evaluation of a complaint done in 72 hours to determine if fact-finding will be done.

Fact-finding, he also said, will be reduced to 60 days and also 60 days for preliminary investigation to determine if a complaint will be dismissed or charges will be filed in court.

He pointed out that many cases filed before the OMB are dismissed due to inordinate delay during the fact-finding and preliminary investigation of the complaints.

Remulla said the plan to expedite disposition of complaints was because a lot of complaints are filed before the OMB simply because they are being used for "political antics and political theatrics."

He begged complainants not to file cases that are bereft of information.

He said: "Pag wala rin naman laman yung kaso, huwang niyo na i-file, i-dismiss lang po namin yan. At sana po, lagyan niyo ng laman yung ifa-file na kaso rito (If there is no basis, please don't file it anymore, we will just dismiss it. And please, put more information on the complaints you plan to file here."

Thus, he said, the slow conduct of investigations has to stop.

At the same time, Remulla said he plans to digitize the OMB.

He said it takes a while before documents are transmitted to the central office because they are sent through "snail mail."

He also said that he was surprised when he asked his staff if the OMB has scanners to make digital copies. "It's quite surprising that we haven't come to that yet," he added.

Thus, he said, he wants to make the OMB go “paperless.”