The Office of the Ombudsman has appealed for an P800 million increase in their proposed 2025 budget after the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) slashed nearly P3 billion of their initial funding request.

Ombudsman Samuel Martires disclosed that they originally requested an P8.7 billion budget for the fiscal year 2025, but the DBM only recommended P5.8 billion in the National Expenditure Program.

"We were asking for an increase for this year in our budget because we are going to hire an additional 60 more lawyers," Martires told the House Committee on Appropriations.

The Ombudsman had initially requested an additional P675,846,000 for their 2025 budget, which would be divided into the creation of 60 lawyers (P257.8 million), provision for the set-up of satellite offices (P400 million), and hiring of casual or contractual employees for the office’s digitalization (P18 million). 

Martires, however, said this excludes the funding for the upgrade of the office's IT (information technology) software, prompting him to amend their additional funding request to P18 million.

"The P18 million, I think, would be sufficient to cover everything," he averred.

According to Martires, the Ombudsman's satellite offices would need at least two personnel that would serve or cater to the application for clearances and to entertain whatever complaints there are concerning government officials or employees.

Currently, the Ombudsman has already established satellite offices in Jolo, Capiz and Pasay City, which were opened last Thursday. He added that they intend to open satellite offices in Sorsogon, Zambaoanga, Tuguegarao, La Union and Negros.

These offices will handle applications for clearances, complaints against government officials, and the Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) of government employees.

"So, with the need for additional satellite offices, we need money for rentals, and we need also money to upgrade our IT system," he explained.

Martires mentioned the need to bolster the Ombudsman's IT system after the respondents of the cases they are about to file were able to hack into their system.

He told the panel that he received an offer from the government of Estonia for about 1.69 million euros, which he said translates to roughly P69 or P70 million, to help upgrade their IT system.

Martires also emphasized the need for extra funding requests so that they could convert job orders (JO) employees in the Ombudsman into casual employees.

"So that these [JO] employees who work, pardon the language but no offense meant to the existing regular employees, work better than regular employees, [could also] enjoy all the benefits that [are] be given by the Office of the Ombudsman," he stressed.

He added, "There are a lot of benefits that the government extends to regular employees that the job order does not enjoy. To me, this a form of dehumanization and the Office of the Ombudsman should not be a tool or an avenue for human rights violation."

The budget augmentation, he said, could also help address unfilled positions in their office, which he claimed has been dominated by non-lawyers.

"If I [could] just be honest [on why there] are more unfilled positions now, it is because of the problem that I have with the Office of the Ombudsman that in units where there supposed to be involved in the investigation, there are more non-lawyers than lawyers. So, I'm trying to reverse the situation," he lamented.

"There are also offices where the ratio is one is to one: one lawyer to one non-lawyer."

"This is the reason why we are asking for an additional budget higher than what the Department of Budget and Management has recommended," Martires concluded.

Meanwhile, members of the panel--Representatives Mark Go, France Castro, and Salvador Pleyto--manifested their all-support to the Ombudsman's request.

Go suggested increasing the Ombudsman's budget to at least P7 billion or reinstating the initial P8.7 billion requested allocation.

"I think we will find a way that we can, you know, recommend this. Once the bicameral conference committee will meet, probably we can, you know, propose this [increase]," Go told his colleagues.