00:00 Corruption issues in the bureaucracy took front and center as the ombudsman
00:03 attended his office's budget deliberations earlier today. The agency
00:08 requests for more money next year for legal and administrative staffing and
00:12 also proposes for religious studies to be introduced in the elementary and high
00:16 school curricula. Let's find out in this report by Melales Moras.
00:20 As he faced the lower house budget deliberations today, Ombudsman Samuel Martirez
00:27 firmly defended their agency against criticisms citing the importance of
00:31 their mandate and how they are performing their duties to the best of
00:34 their abilities.
00:36 We can satisfy everyone as right now the ombudsman is under attack from some
00:43 sectors saying that we should have not removed from the service an honest
00:50 person. A person has a lot of accomplishments but let me just say this
00:56 that
00:57 if a person is honest, it does not mean that he is not violating the law.
01:06 According to this group, all those dismissed by the ombudsman, all those
01:14 appointed by the Supreme Court to be removed from the service and all those
01:20 with many accomplishments should be reversed and returned to the service.
01:24 Such argument is very dangerous.
01:28 For fiscal year 2024, the office of the ombudsman is asking for over 5 billion
01:33 pesos for next year's budget and among its priorities is to hire more personnel
01:38 especially lawyers and IT personnel to further improve their services. During
01:43 the discussion, the issue on corruption was also brought up and the ombudsman
01:47 shared a proposal which has the support of some lawmakers.
01:51 Corruption will not stop in our country. Not even during our lifetime unless we
01:57 change ourselves, unless we change our values. We have to introduce, as I've
02:04 always been saying, a subject from kindergarten until college on God-centered
02:12 values formation. If we will only teach good manners and right conduct that is
02:19 not centered on God, that has no value.
02:23 I will look into this. If we can make an educational law that the teaching of
02:31 God or the values centered on God should be included not only in the higher
02:38 education curricula but also in the basic education. This is very important.
02:44 Apart from the office of the ombudsman, other agencies like the commission on
02:49 elections also faced the legislators today for the deliberations of their
02:53 proposed budgets. During the hearing, Comilex preparations for the upcoming
02:57 2023 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections next month were also
03:01 discussed and the agency also had this warning against vote buying.
03:05 Now, if we see something even if it's just on social media, someone
03:10 brings us pictures, we will show it. It's better for our countrymen to have
03:16 a strong heart to complain. So to those who are just now offering payment or
03:22 offering cash or in-kind, I promise, that is vote buying.
03:27 Melales Moras for the Nation.
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