Lawmakers seek higher pay for graft busters

MANILA, Philippines - Four congressmen are seeking higher salaries for prosecutors, investigators and high-ranking administrative personnel of the Office of the Ombudsman.

Representatives Rufus Rodriguez of Cagayan de Oro City and his brother Maximo, who represents party-list group Abante Mindanao, Camiguin Rep. Xavier Jesus Romualdo and Cebu City Rep. Raul del Mar proposed the higher pay in separate bills that they have filed.

In their proposal, the Rodriguez brothers said the ombudsman “is tasked to investigate on its own or on complaint by any person, any act or omission of any public official, employee, office or agency, when such act or omission appears to be illegal, unjust, improper or inefficient.”

“Though zealous, the men and women of the Office of the Ombudsman, themselves government officials and employees, are not spared from challenges brought about by numerous harassment suits filed against them by disgruntled litigants. Moreover, their personal safety and the safety of their family are at risk due to the high-profile cases they are handling,” they said.

Romualdo said despite the enormity of their task of battling graft and corruption, the salary of ombudsman employees “is still not comparable to that of their counterparts in other government agencies and in other anti-graft and corruption bodies in the Asia-Pacific region.”

Under the law, the salaries of the ombudsman and his or her deputies shall be the same as those of the chairman and members of constitutional commissions.

The law also prescribes that the salaries of other personnel of the ombudsman’s office “shall not be less than those given to comparable positions in any office of the government.”

The three bills seek to increase the pay rates of the prosecution, investigation, legal and administrative staff of the ombudsman comparable to regional trial court, metropolitan trial court, city trial court and municipal trial court judges.

The measures also provide that these personnel would be entitled to pension based on their highest monthly salary, plus allowances upon reaching the age of 65 if they have rendered at least 15 years of service.

They would prohibit any retired ombudsman lawyer receiving pension from appearing in any civil, criminal or administrative proceedings where the government is a litigant.

When an ombudsman retiree gets elected to public office, he or she shall not receive his or her pension during his or her incumbency.

The bills would also allow the ombudsman’s office to provide its personnel with other benefits, including health and accident insurance, scholarships and special allowances, provided that these can be funded out of savings.

To augment funds for the office, the measures authorize it to retain fees collected by it and to keep 35 percent of the value of forfeited assets.

Del Mar said the increase in the salaries of graft busters “will strengthen the Office of the Ombudsman as an institution in its fight against graft and corruption.”