The Office of the Ombudsman is willing to absorb the P710.88 million that the Department of Budget and Management slashed from its original budget proposal if the fund can find better use in efforts of government to fight the devastating 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.

Ombudsman Samuel Martires gave this statement before the House Committee on Appropriations that discussed the P3.967 billion that the DBM allocated for the anti-graft body.

“We are willing to accept a lesser allocation if there is a need to augment the budget of other agencies that are fighting this pandemic and preventing the spread of the CoVID virus,” he told lawmakers.

“We are willing to sacrifice,” he stated during the Thursday, Sept. 9 budget briefing presided over by Zamboanga del Norte Rep. Romeo Jalosjos Jr., appropriations committee vice chairman.

However, House members led by Deputy Speaker and Cagayan De Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez; Deputy Minority Leader and Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate and Reps. Edcel Lagman (1st District, Albay) and Kit Belmonte (6th District, Quezon City) said the DBM is mandated under the law to restore the Ombudsman’s budget even to its current year’s level of P4.67 billion.

The lawmakers cited provisions of the Ombudsman Act of 1989 that the next budget of the anti-graft agency should not be lesser than what it received in the current year.

“The Supreme Court has ruled that a law like the GAA (General Appropriations Act) cannot amend a law of specific character. It cannot amend the Ombudsman Act, being a specific law,” Rodriguez explained.

Martires admitted that official activities in the Ombudsman, including the conduct of investigations, hearings and other work, have been slowed down due to the effects of the pandemic.

He said government funds taken from the agency can be re-aligned to other COVID-19 programs, instead.

However, he called on Congress to allow his office to implemented three principal proposals that would help the Ombudsman pursue its responsibilities notwithstanding the COVD 19 crisis.

“If I do not beg Congress to increase our budget, this time, I beg on bended knees for the grant of authority to use our savings; utilize our income and to reorganize,” he said.

In a manifestation, Lagman said government is obligated to release the Ombudsman’s budget automatically.

“The Office of the Ombudsman suffered a vicious cut in the amount of P685 million and this could be higher,” he said.