Political analyst and veteran communicator Ed Javier on Friday, January 2, urged lawmakers to prioritize strengthening the Office of the Ombudsman as Congress debates the proposed Independent People’s Commission (IPC), warning that history shows new commissions rarely deliver swift or lasting justice.
“Every generation seems to respond to corruption the same way, by creating a new commission,” Javier said, arguing that experience has shown such bodies tend to multiply bureaucracy rather than produce convictions.
His remarks came as Senate President Vicente Sotto III acknowledged that legislative action on the IPC proposal may be deferred until Congress resumes session, citing competing priorities such as the national budget.
Javier cautioned that delaying action to create another commission risks repeating past mistakes, pointing to crisis-driven bodies such as the Agrava Commission, the Presidential Commission on Good Government, the Truth Commission, and the Duterte-era Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission, all of which produced limited or inconclusive results.
The political analyst noted the recent disclosure by Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla that nearly ₱600 billion in government cases were lost to inordinate delay, which Javier said amounted to justice denied.
Instead of building a new body from scratch, Javier called for granting the Ombudsman expanded law enforcement powers, digital and forensic capabilities, and direct oversight of personnel from agencies such as the PNP, NBI, DOJ, and AMLC to speed up investigations and prosecutions.
“Streamlining investigative and enforcement functions under one empowered office makes prosecution faster, more efficient, and budget-wise,” he said, adding that there is no need to build another commission that starts from zero.
Javier cited Hong Kong’s Independent Commission Against Corruption and Singapore’s Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau as models, concluding that “corruption is defeated not by press conferences or new acronyms, but by convictions.”
