Senate OKs bill raising retirement benefits of Ombudsman employees

The Senate on Wednesday passed on third and final reading Senate Bill No. 1762, which seeks to increase the retirement benefits of officials and employees of the Office of the Ombudsman.

The bill aims to make the retirement benefits of qualified employees of the Office of the Ombudsman at par with those in the judiciary, the National Prosecution Service and the Public Attorney’s Office.

Under the proposed measure, those entitled to retirement and other benefits are the Ombudsman, his or her deputies, the special prosecutor and “all officials and employees of the Office of Ombudsman from Salary Grades 26 to 29 who are performing legal, prosecution, investigation and corruption prevention functions and whose positions require membership in the Philippine Bar or a masters degree in a relevant field as a qualification.”

The bill also provides that the ombudsman would enjoy the same retirement and other benefits as those of the presiding justice of the Court of Appeals, if he or she had served for a full term of seven years.

The ombudsman’s deputies and special prosecutors would enjoy the benefits as those of an associate justice of the Court of Appeals if they had completed a term of seven years.

According to the bill, all other covered employees or officials and employees will enjoy the same retirement and other benefits as those of the judges of the regional trial courts, metropolitan trial courts, municipal trial courts in cities, municipal trial courts and municipal circuit trials court or other trial courts with the same salary grades.

The proposed measure has a provision that would automatically increase the salaries, allowances and retirement benefits when the same increases are given to justices and judges.

According to Sen. Richard Gordon, an author and sponsor of the bill, the low retirement benefits of the Office of the Ombudsman have resulted in an alarming exodus of investigators and prosecutors over the last 10 years.

Gordon said the anti-corruption body had hired 180 officers in the past 10 years. Of that number, 178 officers left the service within the same period for other offices.

“Considering the indispensable role of the Office of the Ombudsman in the suppression of graft and corruption, it is only appropriate to provide them with a competitive retirement scheme at par with other government officials and employees performing equally vital functions,” Gordon said in his sponsorship speech.

The other senators who authored the bill were Grace Poe, Joel Villanueva, Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara, Loren Legarda, Panfilo “Ping” Lacson, and Antonio “Sonny” Trillanes IV. /atm