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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider 'No intention of encroaching on Ombudsman's mandate,' says ARTA

'No intention of encroaching on Ombudsman's mandate,' says ARTA

Published Oct 6, 2022 05:50 pm

The Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA) has no intention of stepping on the toes of the Office of the Ombudsman.

Thus, declared ARTA after the latter called for the former’s abolition.

The ARTA logo

ARTA Officer-in-Charge and Undersecretary Ernesto Perez relayed this to the Senate Committee on Finance during the agency's budget hearing on Thursday, Oct. 6.

“We have issued an official statement in response to the statement of the Ombudsman that the ARTA is encroaching on the jurisdiction of the Ombudsman with respect to the fight against red tape,” Perez said.

Ombudsman Samuel Martires, during an earlier Committee on Justice hearing at the House of Representatives, called for the abolition of ARTA as well as a repeal of Republic Act (RA) 11032, or the ARTA law, which he described as unconstitutional.

“We have written him seeking a courtesy call that we have no intention at all of encroaching on the jurisdiction of the powers of the Ombudsman. We’re just assisting the Office of the Ombudsman in view of the mandate of the ARTA,” Perez said.

Perez then explained why ARTA had not encroached on the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction in fulfilling its mandate.

“We are not encroaching on the jurisdiction because when we file cases, we file it either with the Office of the Ombudsman based on our findings or the Civil Service Commission (CSC),” the ARTA OIC said.

“If the violation under Section 21 , if the official or employee involved is a holder of Salary Grade 26 and below and if it is purely administrative, we file it with the CSC. If the case involves both criminal and administrative, and involves a Salary Grade 27 and up meaning a presidential appointee, we file it with the Office of the Ombudsman after conducting clarificatory hearings,” he explained.

“We defer to the jurisdiction of the Office of the Ombudsman,” Perez ended.

The ARTA was allocated P266.530 million under the 2023 National Expenditure Program (NEP).

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