Ombudsman's proposed 2027 budget clears Senate panel, includes P51.47-M confi funds

The proposed budget of Office of the Ombudsman for 2027, which includes P51.47 million in confidential funds, passed Thursday the scrutiny of the Senate finance committee and has been endorsed for plenary consideration.

Despite concerns over the agency's spending capacity and staffing vacancies, senators expressed support for the Ombudsman's budget. The approval is subject to proposed amendments and the submission of documents requested during the hearing.

The P7.2232-billion figure is the amount recommended by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) for inclusion in the 2027 National Expenditure Program (NEP), including automatic appropriations, according to Ombudsman officials.

The amount is substantially lower than the P12.796-billion budget originally proposed by the Ombudsman, leaving a roughly P5.57-billion gap between the agency's request and the DBM recommendation.

Where things stand, the proposed budget represents an increase of about P646 million compared to last year's allocation of P6.577 billion.

Senator Panfilo Lacson said he was "fully supportive" of recommending the Ombudsman's budget to the plenary, while other senators in the finance panel likewise expressing support for strengthening the agency's investigative capacity.

Confidential funds

The P51.468 million allocated for confidential expenses is tabbed under the Ombudsman's maintenance and other operating expenses.

The funds, according to Ombudsman officials, would support the agency's investigation, prosecution and corruption-prevention functions.

During the hearing, Senator Joseph Victor "JV" Ejercito asked about the agency's request for confidential funds, noting that the Ombudsman had sought P148 million, but only about P51 million was included in the DBM-recommended budget.

Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla said the confidential funds would help establish safe quarters for witnesses and, in some instances, marshals, as well as support sensitive investigative activities.

He also cited the Office of the Ombudsman's plan to appoint an Assistant Ombudsman for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), which he said would entail additional security requirements.

"We are more aggressive in pursuing investigations, Your Honor, and pursuing information and other things needed that requires confidential funds to be utilized," Remulla said.

Senate President Sherwin Gatchlian defended the allocation, saying the amount was small compared to the scale of corruption cases being investigated by the Ombudsman.

He said confidential funds could be legitimately used to obtain information needed to strengthen evidence and cases.

Ombudsman asked for P12.8B

The agency's original P12.796-billion proposal included funding for several priorities that were reduced in the DBM recommendation.

Remulla identified the agency's priority items for possible restoration as the purchase of a new office building worth P1.465 billion; more than P167 million for the proposed Ombudsman Marshal Service; additional confidential funds amounting to P148 million; and funds for motor vehicles for officials and general dispatch.

"These are the priority items," Remulla told senators.

Lacson had asked the Ombudsman to identify which programs would be most affected by the DBM cuts and which items should be restored to prevent the reductions from hampering the agency's anti-corruption investigations.

Vacant positions

A major point of discussion was the Ombudsman's request for about P1.68 billion to fill 1,247 vacant plantilla positions.

The agency has more than 2,400 authorized positions, but only about 1,300 personnel are currently filled, translating to a vacancy rate of roughly 51%.

Senator Vicente "Tito" Sotto III questioned why only about half of the agency's plantilla positions were filled.

Remulla said the Ombudsman was already accelerating recruitment, but the government hiring process remained lengthy because of stringent screening requirements.

He said the agency has hired 60 lawyers in 2026 and expects to hire 40 more by November.

According to Remulla, about 3,700 applicants applied for the 100 lawyer positions.

The Ombudsman also cited office-space limitations as another constraint on hiring.

Fund utilization

Lacson, meanwhile, questioned whether the Ombudsman could realistically utilize the full P1.68-billion staffing allocation given its current vacancy rate and hiring pace.

Remulla said the agency could hire more than 400 personnel within another year if given the resources, but acknowledged that filling all the vacancies could take about three years.

He attributed this partly to the office's limited experience in absorbing a substantially larger workforce.

"It's the absorptive capacity of the office," Remulla said.

Lacson suggested that a portion of the proposed staffing allocation could instead be realigned toward the Ombudsman Marshal Service, allowing the agency to prioritize funds it could actually utilize within the two-year period covered by continuing appropriations.

Ombudsman Marshal Service

Ombudsman officials said the proposed Ombudsman Marshal Service would have 100 positions nationwide.

It is intended to complement the Ombudsman's enforcement and investigative functions, including providing protection and security support.

The request drew scrutiny because of the Ombudsman's existing high vacancy rate.

Senators asked how quickly the agency could recruit, vet, and train the proposed marshals to ensure that the additional appropriations would not remain unused.

Budget breakdown

The DBM-recommended P7.2232-billion budget is divided primarily among personnel services, operating expenses and capital outlays:

• P3.760765 billion for personnel services, or about 52%
• P2.444135 billion for maintenance and other operating expenses, or about 33.79%
• P857.1 million for capital outlays, or about 11.85%
• P2.602 million as the Ombudsman's share in the military camps sales fund, or about 0.04%

The proposed budget also includes P497.549 million for information and communications technology requirements, including modernization of its IT infrastructure.

It also earmarked P11.55 million for the construction of a document storage building for the Ombudsman's Visayas office, citing the need to securely preserve and retrieve case records, evidence files and administrative documents.

Another P95.031 million was retained for the upgrading of depreciated office equipment, furniture and fixtures, while P500 million was recommended as funding support for the purchase of an Ombudsman building under a lease-purchase agreement. — VDV, GMA News