Palace backs budget support for ombudsman

MANILA, Philippines - Malacañang expressed support for Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales’ call for more budgetary allocation for the Office of the Ombudsman so that the agency can hire better lawyers to improve its low conviction rate.

In an interview over government radio dzRB, Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said President Aquino fully understands Morales’ call for more budgetary support, particularly to boost the low 44-percent conviction rate in the country’s justice system.

This is the reason why Aquino also wants government prosecutors to be more effective in their mandate, the Palace official added.

“It is right to give attention to the means to increase the conviction rate and it depends on the capability in gathering and presenting evidence, which depends on the competency of the staff of the ombudsman who are mostly lawyers,” Coloma said in Filipino.

House Deputy Majority Leader Sherwin Tugna earlier called for an increase in the allocation for the Office of the Ombudsman in next year’s national budget to ensure the conviction of those involved in the multibillion-peso pork barrel scam.

He said additional resources should be given to Morales to allow the anti-graft body to tap the best lawyers to convict high-profile politicians and their co-accused. Tapping the best legal minds would also help put an end to the series of supposed blunders committed by government lawyers at the very early stages of the pork scam cases.

“For me, it is a reflection of the situation that because of the high number of corruption cases in our government, the needed assistance from the Department of Justice and private lawyers shows that we lack prosecutors in the ombudsman,” said Tugna, who represents the Citizens Battle Against Corruption (Cibac) party-list.

But during a budget hearing at the House of Representatives, Morales admitted that the Office of the Ombudsman faces difficulty in hiring at least 360 more lawyers to complement the current 363 anti-graft prosecutors because of “integrity” issues.

“There are many applicants but we have to be very strict. You have to first pass competence and second integrity (tests),” she said.

“If you don’t pass both, I’m sorry, it’s better to have none than to have plenty who are not competent to discharge the mandate of the ombudsman,” she added.