FILE PHOTO: The Office of the Ombudsman. INQUIRER/NIÑO JESUS ORBETA
MANILA, Philippines – The Office of the Ombudsman should serve as the “model agency” in reporting and liquidating confidential funds, Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III said on Tuesday.
Noting that the Ombudsman has been receiving confidential funds since 2018, Pimentel urged them to be the example for other government agencies, should their requested P51.468-million confidential funds for next year be granted.
“This representation’s appeal is if the Office of the Ombudsman can be the model agency in the reporting and liquidation of the said confidential funds,” he said, speaking in a mix of English and Filipino during the Senate plenary session.
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Pimentel then added: “Because if we cannot avoid or zero the confidential funds all over the government bureaucracy, at least there is a model agency, which the Commission on Audit can point to and then, tell other agencies with confidential funds that this is the way to be more than transparent in the reporting and use of the confidential funds.”
The Ombudsman’s proposed 2023 budget amounts to P4.721 billion, which was retained in the approved General Appropriations Bill of the House of Representatives.
While the agency has not submitted a request to augment their budget, Senator Sonny Angara said the Ombudsman will “welcome any amendments that this body would wish to make as it had done historically.”
