Photo courtesy Rappler
THE Office of the Ombudsman will be hiring more lawyers to speed up its investigation of cases.
Ombudsman Samuel Martires said the agency has 353 lawyers in the central office and sectoral offices, and he plans to hire 400 to 500 more.
He said he plans to create satellite offices throughout each of the provinces. He would also hire additional lawyers for the sectoral offices so that lawyers from the Office of the Ombudsman, and not from the Department of Justice, would represent it in the regional trial courts.
“Once naayos ko na ho ang plantilla namin, which is already in the making before the end of the year, sisiguraduhin ko there will be additional lawyers in the Ombudsman, the investigation of the cases will be sped up,” he said at the budget hearing at the House of Representatives on Monday.
He said he has left some positions unfilled in the past while he studied what was causing the delay in the agency’s resolution of cases.
He has also instituted changes this year to speed it up.
One move is to merge the Fact Finding Investigation Group and the Preliminary Investigation Group.
Martires said there have been some grumblings from agency personnel about this move, but he is bent on implementing this.
“Those who will not abide by this, kung ayaw ninyo magtrabaho sa Office of the Ombudsman, they can all tender their resignation and transfer to other offices,” he said.
He is serious about this, he said.
“I mean it because lagi kaming pinupuna hindi lamang ng judiciary, but by the public na ang bagal daw ng imbestigasyon ng kaso,” he said.
The Office of the Ombudsman would aim to complete an investigation within two years, he said.
