A measure that would create a separate law-enforcement arm for the Office of the Ombudsman was backed in the Philippine Senate on Monday, Oct. 5, during a joint hearing of the Committees on Justice and Human Rights and Ways and Means.

The hearing took up Senate Bill No. 2394, known as the Ombudsman Anti-Corruption Law Enforcement Powers bill, with lawmakers discussing possible constitutional concerns and proposed amendments. How those questions are settled could shape the final scope of the measure.

The measure would establish the Ombudsman Marshall Service, an independent body tasked with enforcing orders and carrying out investigations under the Office of the Ombudsman. Assistant Ombudsman Luis Gonzaga S. Bonoan Jr. told the committees that the proposed service would centralize the anti-graft office's execution of directives, the protection of witnesses and officials, and the monitoring of compliance. Those functions sit at the point where anti-graft work takes practical effect: directives, investigations, and rulings matter most when they are actually executed, witnesses are protected, and compliance is tracked.

The service would entail 100 new positions, Mr. Bonoan said. He added that the Ombudsman would need P127.1 million for personnel and P31.9 million for operational costs — a combined outlay of roughly P159 million, or only about 2% of the Ombudsman's proposed 2027 budget. The staffing and cost figures underscore that the service would only become operational once its positions and operations are funded through the appropriations process.

Senator Francis Pancratius N. Pangilinan, chairman of the Committee on Justice and Human Rights, said the Senate Committee on Finance had expressed support for the anti-graft body's additional funding request to create the law-enforcement service.

Senator Panfilo M. Lacson Sr., the bill's principal author, also suggested granting the Ombudsman contempt powers by statute, noting that the Constitution does not prohibit Congress from extending such powers to a constitutional body. That suggestion adds another element for the committees to weigh alongside the constitutional questions already on the table.

The Office of the Ombudsman is an independent office created under the 1987 Philippine Constitution to investigate and prosecute allegations of graft, corruption, and other offenses committed by public officials and employees. Its mandate is implemented through the Ombudsman Act of 1989 (Republic Act No. 6770). As with any measure in the Philippines' bicameral Congress, Senate Bill No. 2394 would still need to pass the House of Representatives and be signed by the President to become law. Along the way, attention is likely to focus on how the committees resolve the amendments and constitutional concerns raised at the hearing, whether the proposed statutory contempt powers are folded in, and how the service's roughly P159-million requirement is treated in the 2027 budget.

— Report by Francessca S. Abalos, originally published by BusinessWorld: https://bworldonline.com/the-nation/2026/10/05/784518/independent-enforcement-arm-for-ombudsman-backed-in-senate/