Ombudsman questions ‘glaring injustice’ in proposed 2012 budget

The Office of the Ombudsman on Monday questioned the Department of Budget and Management’s move to place P432 million in automatic appropriations for 2012 in a special purpose fund that can only be accessed once the office fills up its vacant posts. Newly-installed Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales said during a budget hearing at the House of Representatives that the government should automatically release this chunk of the budget to her office since it enjoys fiscal autonomy as stated in the Article XI, Section 14 of the 1987 Constitution. “In deference to the Constitution and adherence to the law providing the functional operation of the Office of the Ombudsman, there is an imperative need to restore the P432-million budget to the national expenditure program of the office for 2012 which only Congress has the plenary power to do so," she said during the hearing. Carpio-Morales, a former Supreme Court justice, described as a “glaring injustice" the DBM’s decision to decrease her office’s proposed 2012 budget to P785 million from P1.1 billion this year. She added that part of the Office of the Ombudsman’s fiscal autonomy is its prerogative to translate its savings from unspent personal services allotments to “other items of appropriations." Cavite Rep. Joseph Emilio Abaya, House appropriations committee chairperson, however, explained that the special purpose fund, formally known as the Miscellaneous Personnel Benefits Fund, was put in place to ensure transparency in the filling up of government positions. “Ang objective ng executive is to mop up all the unfilled positions, kasi in the military and in the police, we have seen that this has become the source of misbehaviors because [they] can easily realign from their personal services," he said in a separate interview. He, however, admitted that the DBM’s move to create the special purpose fund, which amounts to P23.4 billion, may face “legal issues" especially among fiscally autonomous agencies. Abaya also said government agencies can access these funds once they fill up vacant positions by next year.— KBK, GMA News