LGU, PNP top Ombudsman's list of agencies with most number of complaints

For the fifth straight year, local government units and the Philippine National Police (PNP) topped the Office of the Ombudsman’s list of groups and agencies facing the most number of complaints before the anti-graft body.

In its 2015 performance report published on its website, the Ombudsman said that for the last year, a total of 2,697 complaints were filed against local government officials, accounting for a whopping 50.34 percent of the 5,358 complaints that the body received for the entire year.

Second on the list is the Philippine National Police (PNP) with its personnel and officials named respondents in 1,265 complaints filed with the Ombudsman in 2015. This figure accounts for 23.67 percent of the total complaints that the Ombudsman received.

The LGUs and PNP have been topping the Ombudsman’s year-end reports since 2011, in which their officials and employees were named as respondents in 3,854 complaints and 1,709 complaints, respectively.

Executives from the LGUs were named as respondents in 2,669 complaints in 2012; in 2,014 complaints in 2013; and in 2,053 complaints in 2014 while the PNP officers were respondents in 1,415 complaints in 2012; 1,312 in 2013; and 1,258 in 2014.

The other government agencies facing the highest number of complaints before the Ombudsman in 2015 were the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) with 182; Department of Education with 172; Department of Environment and Natural Resources, 100; State Universities and Colleges, 87; Department of Agriculture, 77; Department of Finance, 73; Department of Agrarian Reform, 72; and Bureau of Customs, 70.

Higher disposal, conviction rates

The report, meanwhile, noted the higher number of complaints resolved by the Ombudsman last year as well as the high conviction rate for cases filed before Sandiganbayan.

According to the report, a the total 6,730 complaints were resolved by the Ombudsman by the end of 2015, decreasing by 16 percent the body’s 14,058 total case workload for the year.

The Ombudsman said the resolved complaints included not only those that are criminal in nature but also administrative and forfeiture complaints.

Based on the report, a total of 3,533 administrative complaints were resolved by the Ombudsman in 2015 with 821 public officials meted with penalties of varying severity such as suspension (350 officials) and dismissal from service (260 officials) with accessory penalties of perpetual disqualification from public office and forfeiture of retirement benefits.

In terms of the criminal complaints, a total of 3,174 were resolved by the Ombudsman last year, 632 of which were filed in regular courts and 186 were filed before the special anti-graft court Sandiganbayan.

The majority or 2,311 of the criminal complaints that the Ombudsman resolved, however, ended in dismissal for lack of substance or insufficiency of evidence to support the allegations.

Meanwhile, of the cases elevated before the Sandiganbayan, the Ombudsman’s Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP), in 2015, managed to secure a 75 percent conviction rate.

The record showed that of the 157 cases decided by the Sandiganbayan last year, 117 resulted in the conviction of the respondents as against 40 cases that resulted in acquittal.

This figure was significantly higher than in 2014 when the OSP managed to achieve only 37 percent conviction rate. —Elizabeth Marcelo/KBK, GMA News