The Philippine Star

Ombudsman: Top-heavy management tied my hands in reorganiza­tion

- By DELON PORCALLA

Ombudsman Samuel Martires yesterday confirmed that his office has indeed been top-heavy, but clarified that he inherited such when he assumed office in July 2018, which, unfortunat­ely, tied his hands in reorganizi­ng the independen­t constituti­onal body.

“Our office hierarchy was entirely messed up. I just inherited the present organizati­onal structure. I am in a ‘damned if you do, (damned) if you don’t’ situation,” Martires said.

The former Supreme Court and Sandiganba­yan justice was referring to the 2020 Audit Observatio­n Memorandum of the Commission on Audit (COA) that unraveled the confusion in the pay scale and rank or positions of personnel, where 64 percent of employees have been occupying “high-level positions” since at least 2017.

Martires’ predecesso­r was Conchita Carpio-Morales, who was appointed in July 2011.

“I agree with the report of the COA, and this situation is the one giving us nightmares in our reorganiza­tion plan,” Martires said, noting that the Office of the Ombudsman needs an “overhaul,” but employees will definitely be severely affected, one way or another.

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