Lawmakers sought Tuesday (Sept. 22) the restoration of the original proposed P4.67 billion budget of the Office of the Ombudsman for next year after the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) “arbitrarily” slashed almost P1.3 billion from its original appropriations.
They made the call during the House Committee on Appropriations’ deliberations on the Ombudsman’s P3.36 billion budget for 2021, presided over by vice chairperson Zamboanga del Norte 1st District Rep. Romeo Jalosjos Jr.
After hearing from Ombudsman Samuel Martires that they “don’t feel comfortable” with the P3.36 billion given by the DBM, Deputy Speaker and SAGIP partylist Rep. Rodante Marcoleta, Cagayan de Oro 2nd District Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, Bayan Muna partylist Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate, and Iloilo 1st District Rep. Janette Garin moved for the augmentation of the anti-graft body’s spending proposal for next year.
Martires said the significant reduction in their personnel services (PS) budget “will greatly our reorganization plan, which we intend to hire more lawyers and investigators” as well as their initiative to create another Bureau that would handle solely administrative cases.
“What hurts us is (that) the Department of Budget and Management did not us give us the courtesy of giving a call to explain to us to tell to us that they have to reduce the personnel services. We do not like what the DBM has done to us because they themselves said that being a constitutional body, they cannot reduce and they will not reduce personnel services and MOOE (maintenance and other operating expenses),” he said.
According to him, they asked for an additional P300 million for the creation of the new Bureau.
“I don’t think this is a healthy sign on the part of the DBM by just doing it arbitrarily without telling us…We don’t feel comfortable, your Honors, that is why we are asking for a reconsideration to reinstate the original proposal of the Office of the Ombudsman to be able to meet our targets for this year despite the pandemic,” Martires said.
He said if the DBM cannot fully restore their original budget because of lack of government funds, they are only asking for the restoration of their personal services (PS) budget.
“I was very arbitrary on the part of the DBM to have cut a very important funding for the Office of the Ombudsman . I think we should support the Office by being able to restore that particular budget that they originally presented,” Marcoleta said.
Rodriguez and Zarate called out the DBM for the slashing the budget of the Ombudsman, which is a constitutional body.
“This particular allotment given by the DBM is contrary to Section 38 of the Ombudsman Act of 1989 because the Office of the Ombudsman shall enjoy fiscal autonomy and the appropriation for the Ombudsman may not be reduced very clear from the law, below the amount appropriated for the previous years,” he said.
He noted that the P3.36 billion budget recommended by the DBM is P742 million or 22 percent lower than this year’s budget of the Office of the Ombudsman, amounting to P4.105 billion.
“The DBM should follow the law on the Ombudsman. It should not reduce the amount of the budget of the Ombudsman for 2021 compared to 2020,” Rodriguez said.
Zarate said the DBM should make realignments to ensure that the Ombudsman 2021 budget will be restored to its original proposed amount.
Upon the manifestation of Deputy Minority Leader and Iloilo Rep. Janette Garin, the House Committee on Appropriations formally asked the DBM to explained the reasons why it reduced the budget of the Ombudsman.
"Basically my request is for the DBM to write Congress formally stating the rationale behind the continuous reduction of the budget of the Office of the Ombudsman,” she said.
She said the DBM did not only reduce the PS budget of the Ombudsman, but it also granted them “zero funding” for their capital outlay for next year.
"Ano po ba ang ibig sabihin nito, nasa pandemya (What is the meaning of this?, we are in pandemic) the new normal entails a very good IT connectivity. How can this Office function if you will give them a zero budget? His (Martires) Office should focus on giving justice to Filipino people rather than thinking of how they can source out funds,” the opposition lawmaker said.
Garin, a former secretary of the Department of Health (DOH), laments that under the 2021 budget of the Office of the Ombudsman, there is no budget allocated for free COVID-19 testing of its personnel.
“Is this a message of non-support to the Office of the Ombudsman? The Ombudsman is a constitutional body , you cannot slash its budget,” she said.