CEBU CITY, Cebu, Philippines — Intending to bring its services closer to the people, the Office of the Ombudsman in Visayas is gearing to have a public assistance center in every barangay so that the community will not find it hard to air or file their complaints against malpractices of local officials.

In a recent forum here, Deputy Ombudsman for the Visayas Pelayo S. Apostol said an initiative being done by his office in addressing the continuing problem on corruption is to create a public assistance center down to the barangay level so that relevant concerns will be addressed at an earlier stage.

Apostol added that the delay in filing of charges against erring officials has been one of their major concerns due to accessibility issues since the office has a big jurisdiction.

He also said that like just any office, whether public or private, the Ombudsman’s office in the Visayas has its share in management problems and that “is why we have identified our problems so that we will know what to do in addressing these.”

Apostol added that “by admitting the identified problems within our organization we can show the public that we are sincere in our fight against corruption.”

He said another concern in his office is the creation of wider linkages with other government agencies, non-government organizations and even private institutions to strengthen the fight against malpractices in government.

At the same time, he pointed out that despite limited resources, his office has a 30 percent rating in terms of resolving formal charges.

To recall, in an attempt to make a bold stand against corruption, the Ombudsman Visayas late last year, organized an anti-corruption concert dubbed “Hagit… Siyagit,” which was participated in by government executives from various other regions in the Visayas.