House OKs bill on add'l retirement benefits for Ombudsman workers

The House of Representatives has approved on third and final reading a bill providing retirement benefits and hazard allowance to workers of the Office of the Ombudsman who are holding positions equal to those of their counterparts in trial courts and the appellate court.

House Bill 6578 or the "Retirement Law of the Office of the Ombudsman" was unanimously approved earlier this week.

One of the bill’s authors, Representative Sherwin Tugna of the Citizens’ Battle Against Corruption party-list, said the Ombudsman’s work force’s existing salaries and benefits “are not commensurate to their heavy task of gathering evidence and establishing air-tight cases against erring public officials.”

The bill provides that the Ombudsman shall have the same retirement and other benefits as those of the Presiding Justice of the Court of Appeals, and that Deputies and the Special Prosecutor shall be entitled to the same retirement and other benefits as those of the Associate Justice of the appellate court.

Meanwhile, all other officials and employees covered by the bill — from Salary Grade 26 to 29 — will have the same retirement and other benefits as trial court judges with the same salary grades.

The Office of the Ombudsman is responsible for receiving and acting on corruption complaints against erring government officials or employees. It is currently headed by Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales.

Under the bill, any salary increase in their corresponding position will also result in an automatic hike in the pension benefits of retired Ombudsman officials or employees.

Other provisions of the bill include:

• additional monthly hazard allowance of not more than half of the basic monthly pay to Ombudsman workers “exposed to hardships, security risks and other hazards by reason of their assigned tasks and responsibilities;” and
• appropriate retirement benefits given to the surviving legitimate spouse and dependent children in case of the death of a retired Ombudsman official or employee

“Any increase after the effectivity of this Act in the salary, allowances or retirement benefits, or any upgrading of the salary grades or levels, all of the justices and judges shall apply to the corresponding OMB or employee,” Tugna said.

It also stipulates that an Ombudsman official or employee who has retired at 65 years old or has worked there or in any government branch for at least 15 years is entitled to a retirement pension “on the highest monthly salary, plus the highest monthly aggregate of transportation, living and representation allowances being received by the official or employee at the time of retirement or resignation” for the rest of his or her life.

Given all these benefits, Ombudsman officials or employees covered by the legislation cannot serve as counsel, or get paid for, interests against the government: before any judicial or quasi-judicial body in any civil or criminal case, or in administrative proceedings, where where the government or its officers or employees are the “adverse party.”

“The amounts necessary to implement the proposed Act shall be included in the annual General Appropriations Act,” Tugna said.

Another principal author of the bill, Zamboanga Sibugay 2nd District Representative Ann Hofer, said Ombudsman benefits and allowances are “are still not comparable” to those of other government workers and in anti-graft bodies in the Pacific Region.

Hofer also was quoted as saying “the [Office of the Ombudsman] also suffers from a high turnover of personnel,” due to better compensation and benefit offers in other government agencies or in the private sector. —Nicole-Anne C. Lagrimas/ALG, GMA News