Ombudsman tells story of gov’t security guard with P280 million in bank

The Office of the Ombudsman is looking to file a case against a government employee who managed to stash P280 million in the bank, Ombudsman Samuel Martires told the Senate Committee on Finance on Tuesday.

Martires told the story about the security guard and his wife who both had millions of pesos in bank deposits as he discussed corruption during his office's presentation of its proposed P4.781-billion budget for 2023.

The committee approved the allocation and recommended it to the plenary for deliberations, without prejudice to a possible increase.

“Kayo po ba ay maniniwala na merong isang empleyado na ang kanyang item ay security guard. At ang kanyang deposito sa bank ay P280 million for the past 21 years,” Martires said.

[Would you believe that there is an employee whose item is a security guard that has P280 million in bank deposits for the past 21 years?]

“At ang kanyang asawa for the past eight years o may deposito sa bank na P179 million? Security guard lang po ‘yung asawa,” he added.

[And that his wife for the past eight years has deposited P179 million? Her husband is only a security guard.]

Asked which government agency employed the security guard, Martires said, "Yung kaso po na ‘yan ay ifa-file pa lang po namin sa Sandiganbayan."

(The case has yet to be filed before the Sandiganbayan.) —NB, GMA News