Ombudsman asks Congress for additional intelligence funds

Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/TARRA QUISMUNDO

The Office of the Ombudsman on Tuesday asked Congress to increase its intelligence funds as part of its 2016 budget.

Appearing before the Committee on Appropriations, Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales said the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) approved only P3-million intelligence funds compared to their proposed P5.2 million.

Morales cited that her predecessors had as much as P20-million intelligence funds.

The Ombudsman initially proposed for a P2.835-billion 2016 budget but the DBM recommended a budget of P1.775 billion. The current budget of the Ombudsman is P1.88 billion.

Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez said he was “surprised” that the DBM decreased the budget of the Ombudsman compared to its 2015 budget.

Rodriguez proposed that P500 million be added to the proposed 2016 budget of the Ombudsman to be able to perform its mandate in handling corruption cases.

The Ombudsman is handling a number of corruption cases including those involving personalities in the multibillion Priority development Assistance Fund (PDAF) scam and the partly-unconstitutional Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP), which involves Budget Secretary Florencio “Butch” Abad.

Morales said the Office of the Ombudsman has resolved 6,235 criminal and administrative cases from the 14,951 cases. As of January 2015, she said 8,715 cases were the balance workload of the agency.

According to her, a total of 632 criminal complaints have resulted in the filing of criminal cases, 135 of which were filed before the Sandiganbayan.

Morales disclosed that the Ombudsman is investigating more cases of ghost projects and ghost beneficiaries in connection with the misuse of lawmakers’ PDAF.

She, however, declined to detail the agency’s investigation to avoid being politicized. Nestor Corrales/IDL

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