Drilon warns vs giving OSG more powers

Senator Franklin Drilon INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / NINO JESUS ORBETA

Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon on Wednesday urged the government to rethink proposals to expand the functions of the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG), as he expressed alarm over the 730,000 cases pending before the agency.

“We agree on streamlining and right-sizing as a matter of policy but we should (also) look at efficiency. The OSG has its hands full,” Drilon said.

The Senate committees on justice and human rights, civil service, finance, and ways and means on Wednesday started hearing proposals that would strengthen the OSG by increasing its powers and functions and redefining its organization.

Principal defender

While there was a need to beef up the government’s principal legal defender, abolishing the Presidential Commission on Good Government and the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel and shifting their powers to the OSG would not serve the purpose, Drilon said.

There are 730,000 cases pending before the OSG, of which 374,000 are active cases, he said, adding that a lawyer in the agency would have to handle about 1,400 cases to keep up.

“Should we burden the OSG even more by giving it more responsibilities than what it could handle, because it is obvious the agency is overwhelmed and understaffed?” Drilon asked.