Proposed legislation to strengthen the fight against corruption by empowering the Office of the Ombudsman will be among the partial recommendations of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee following its investigation into the flood control scandal, Senate President Pro Tempore and Blue Ribbon Committee Chairman Ping Lacson said.
Lacson said these include allowing the undermanned Office of the Ombudsman to deputize private lawyers as prosecutors, and giving it a law enforcement arm to apply for search warrants and follow up the investigation of corruption-related cases.
“Allow the Ombudsman to deputize private lawyers to help in prosecuting cases, because the Office of the Ombudsman is very undermanned.”
“One recommendation is based on the suggestion of former Senate President Franklin Drilon to allow the Ombudsman to deputize private lawyers to help in prosecuting cases, because the Office of the Ombudsman is very undermanned. If we allow it to deputize private lawyers to act as prosecutors by way of legislation, that would be a good measure,” the veteran legislator said in English and Filipino in an interview on DZMM radio.
The seasoned lawmaker said a second recommendation involves a small dedicated law enforcement arm for the Ombudsman, which presently relies on help from other agencies like the Philippine National Police and National Bureau of Investigation.
“Even if it is small, it should be dedicated, to allow it to apply for search warrants and conduct follow-up investigations of corruption-related cases.”
“The Office of the Ombudsman should have its own law enforcement arm. Even if it is small, it should be dedicated, to allow it to apply for search warrants and conduct follow-up investigations of corruption-related cases,” the senator said.
He said the partial recommendations are in line with the Blue Ribbon panel’s main task to conduct hearings in aid of legislation, adding many pieces of evidence stemming from its hearings were used by the Department of Justice, Office of the Ombudsman, and the Independent Commission for Infrastructure in filing information before the courts.
Also, Lacson said the Blue Ribbon Committee is almost finished working on its partial committee report. After the partial committee report is presented to the plenary, he said it may hold one to two more hearings to wrap up the investigation.
He stressed he is “very confident” that the Blue Ribbon Committee’s eventual committee report will be solid because it is “evidence-based”.
“The committee report’s contents are based on evidence,” Lacson stressed.
He also said the subpoenas issued by the DOJ against personalities including former Public Works Secretary Manuel Bonoan and Senator Jinggoy Estrada will not affect the Blue Ribbon panel’s investigation.
“What is more important to our committee report is the aspect of the probe in aid of legislation. The recommended pieces of legislation aim to correct our current system as part of our oversight mandate, to correct weaknesses in our current laws and strengthen our fight against corruption,” Lacson concluded.
