Integrity Philippines --------Pinoy Solutions to Corruption

NEWS - JULY 16-23, 2011

Pinoy Solutions to Corruption
Media reports & editorials about " PINOY SOLUTIONS"
GUIDE FOR OBSERVING & EVALUATING COURT PERFORMANCE
CONFRONTING THE CULTURAL DIMENSION OF CORRUPTION by Gerald E. Caiden
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NATIONAL SURVEYS
PINOY SOLUTIONS TO CORRUPTION *** Speech by Ex-Governor Grace Padaca at Silliman University
PINOY SOLUTIONS TO CORRUPTION *** Speech by Senator TG GUINGONA at Silliman University
"A CULTURE OF INTEGRITY" - THE INTEGRITY INITIATIVE & PLEDGE
THE CHIEF JUSTICE SPEAKS ON JUDICIAL REFORM
THE NEW OMBUDSMAN
The New Commission on Audit
NEW COMMISSIONERS AT COA
COA COMMISSIONER HEIDI MENDOZA IN WASHINGTON
COA PARTICIPATION IN MIAMI INTERNATIONAL ICGFM CONFERENCE
EXAMPLES OF COA NEWS AND FINDINGS
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SPECIAL ARTICLE: TRANSFORMING LEADERS
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NEWS - Sept. 1 - 15, 2011
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SPECIAL: GARCIA PLEA BARGAIN CONTROVERSY
SPECIAL: THE GEN. REYES TRAGEDY
SPECIAL: CORRUPTION IN THE MILITARY
SPECIAL: IMPEACHMENT TRIAL
MAP - MAPping a Culture of Integrity
MAP RECOMMENDATIONS IN RESPONSE TO THE PRESIDENT
EHEM! --- Anti-Corruption Initiative of the Philippine Jesuits
iPro - The Philippines Integrity Project
iPro PROJECT ACTIVITIES
ANTI-CORRUPTION EXPERT TONY KWOK IN MANILA
AIM-HILLS SYMPOSIUM: ANTI-CORRUPTION AGENCY FUNDAMENTALS
iPro Project Photos
2011 REGIONAL ANTI-CORRUPTION COLLOQUIUMS

News extracts are presented on this website. To read the full original article at its source click on the underlined text below

IntegriNews

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TOP NEWS

INQUIRER
Foreign Businesses urge Greater
Inter-Agency Collaboraion Among Government Corruption Fighters
 
The Joint Foreign Chambers (JFC) composed of American, Australian, Canadian, European, Korean, and New Zealand-based businesses—is seeking greater collaboration among the Department of Justice, Supreme Court, and the Office of the Ombudsman to stamp out corruption both in the public and private sectors.

To further boost transparency and curb corruption, the Joint Foreign Chambers is pushing for the immediate passage of the Freedom of Information Bill and the Whistle-blowers Act.

“We advocate the passage of the FOI Act. There has to be stronger powers to compel the disclosure of information (regarding government transactions). We also support the Whistle-blowers Act, to encourage people to tell on officials who are committing corruption,” American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines senior advisor John Forbes said...

The FOI Bill, had it been passed last Congress, would have been a landmark legislation, as it would mandate full disclosure of information related to government transactions.

Officials denying access to information would face stiff sanctions.

The Whistle-blowers Act, on the other hand, sought to protect whistle-blowers and witnesses from the risks related to their exposure of irregularities committed by government officials.

Commentary by the Philippine Public Transparency Reporting Project
 
Give the Commission on Audit real power

Along with everybody else, we very much heralded and welcomed the appointment of Heidi Mendoza to the position of Commissioner. Like everyone else, we have been impressed with many of the reports produced and published by COA over the years. It was after all, COA that first uncovered the abuses in many of the government-owned and -controlled corporations – PPTRP simply read the reports and published a summary of what it found in March of last year.  But it would be better for all if people started being scared of the COA and its reporting and what a negative finding from the constitutional body might mean. COA needs to be given more power and the ability to sanction. It has to be given teeth. It needs to be respected – if not feared more just like national audit offices are in many other countries. It needs to be given the funds that will allow it to start moving towards performance auditing and not simply left to audit books after the fact when money is spent and gone and possibly misused.

COA auditors also need to be physically removed from the departments they are charged with reviewing. Unfortunately, PPTRP along with other groups has heard far too many claims of how some COA auditors are way too close to the people and groups they are supposed to be independently monitoring.   Thus we would hope to hear something next week in the SONA about ensuring COA can be a much more effective body for the sake of us all.

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MANILA BULLETIN
 
Iloilo governor vows continued transparency
 
Iloilo Gov. Arthur Defensor Sr. has expressed commitment to continue his policy of maintaining transparency in governance.

“We have strictly imposed a zero-commission and no S.O.P. (standard operating procedure, slang for bribes) policy,” Defensor emphasized in his State of the Provincial Address Thursday.

“Public biddings are now conducted openly, and the public can witness the opening of sealed bids and listen to the deliberations of the Bids and Awards Committee,” he added.

This reform in governance policy, the Iloilo governor said, has enabled the provincial government to save some P36 million in implementing infrastructure projects, maintenance of roads and bridges, hospital maintenance, procurement of medical supplies, and renovation of the Iloilo Sports Complex.

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GMA NEWS
Real-time info on solons’ ‘pork’ now available online
Constituents of senators and congressmen can now check in real time where their lawmakers are using their priority development assistance funds (PDAF), commonly known as "pork barrel."

This is after the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) introduced on Wednesday a new management information system, called the electronic Transparency and Accountability Initiative for Lump Sum Funds (eTAILS), on its
website.

"This project is to improve transparency, accountability and engagement of the citizenry… The Aquino administration is committed to governance in daylight—governance that is transparent and meaningfully participatory," Budget chief Florencio Abad said during the project’s launch.

INQUIRER

11 Cabinet secretaries sign Integrity Pledge

Eleven members of the Aquino Cabinet have signed the Integrity Pledge, effectively joining a private sector-led effort to institute control measures to help curb corruption in the country.

Henry Schumacher, vice president for external affairs of the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, which spearheads the Integrity Initiative along with the Makati Business Club, said the Initiative had gained more steam these past months, as more government leaders exerted concrete steps to stamp out corruption...

Bureau of Internal Revenue chief Kim Henares and Bureau of Customs commissioner Angelito Alvarez likewise signed the pledge.

But signing the Integrity Pledge was just the first step, Schumacher said. These key players of the Aquino administration would now have to come up with control measures to ensure corruption-free operations in their respective departments and agencies.

“They have to cascade this to their people. This will be of no use if the people at the bottom do not know about this initiative,” Schumacher told reporters on Wednesday.

The Integrity Initiative is supported by the American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, Asian Institute of Management, Coalition against Corruption, and the Management Association of the Philippines...

Signatories to the Integrity Pledge commit to shun bribery in any form, maintain a code of conduct for employees to pursue ethical business practices, and implement internal systems that will prevent any unethical conduct within their firms.

They also vow to maintain transparent and appropriate financial reporting mechanisms and to allow themselves to be subjected to audits should the need arise. They also commit to eventually enter into “integrity pacts’’ with government agencies and other businesses, especially in the area of procurement.

One of the objectives of the Integrity Initiative is to eventually formulate integrity standards by which companies will be measured – a sort of ISO that will give qualified firms a seal of recognition.

The goal is to eventually get government agencies to commit to accept only bids coming from integrity-certified companies. This will encourage more companies to sign the Integrity Pledge.

INQUIRER
INVESTORS GENERALLY HAPPPY WITH AQUINO...BUT 
want  government to implement major reforms, particularly in the judiciary
  • “We need to reform the judicial sector. Business harassment, or when competitors seek (temporary restraining orders), is a big issue for investors. The delay in getting certain issues to court is also a problem,”
  • "The Supreme Court sometimes reconsider cases two to three times. There’s no certainty in the business environment. It’s like we can’t depend on written laws here."
  • “Corruption starts at the top and ends at the top. We saw corruption from the top in the last administration."
  • “For tax evasion and smuggling cases, there has to be convictions. The (Department of Justice, Office of the Ombudsman, and the Supreme Court) should work together to get someone in jail: one whom people say will never go to jail,”

The foreign business leaders agreed that President Aquino had started on a positive note with a strong anti-corruption campaign and a scheme to attract private investment to build crumbling infrastructure.

Read full Inquirer article

STAR
Budget Secretary Florencio Abad: Central Payroll System for Government to Lessen Corruption
 
The Aquino administration will adopt a central payroll system by 2012 where 1.3 million state workers will get their salaries direct from their bank accounts, and not through their individual agencies, to cut red tape and further lessen bureaucratic corruption...
 
“Next year, we will begin to implement what we call the Central Payroll System, where salaries of government (employees) will no longer go through the agencies, but the (national) treasury office will deposit the salaries to the bank accounts of the employees,” he said.Through this scheme, the never-ending problem of non-remittances to the Government Service Insurance System – the peak of which reached a staggering amount of P9 billion (plus P15 billion in penalties) – will eventually be done away with and resolved...
 
“This will minimize corruption in the agency level, since there will no longer be any middleman, so to speak, who can juggle public funds, just like the fund conversion scheme of the AFP, where it earned interest,”...“With this, the money is not going to go to any other agency. What they would only do is to prepare the payroll and send it to us, and we will tell the treasury to pay the employees, and they will do that,”...
 
Abad said the Aquino administration will be tapping ordinary citizens, social groups and civil society organizations in formulating the 2012 national budget.

He said this landmark move was done in line with the President’s social contract with the people to stamp out corruption by opening all government transactions in order to remain as transparent as possible.

Abad stressed that all government agencies have been directed to open their books to the public through the posting of all transactions such as allotments, biddings, obligations and disbursements on their respective websites. 

GOVERNMENT VOWS TO CONTINUE DELIVERING JUSTICE: During the Pilipinas Natin Cabinet Cluster on Good Governance and Anti-corruption forum...Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said that her department would continue to deliver justice without fear or favor. How to maintain and sustain the high public expectations are the biggest challenges so far for the department, De Lima said, adding that this is the reason why the Department of Justice has initiated capacity building programs to continue to inspire and motivate its personnel to be true to their missions. Touching on the high profile cases being prepared by the Aquino government against the past leadership, De Lima said that presently all the cases are undergoing preliminary investigations.

INQUIRER - "NEW" HELICOPTERS

Former First Gentleman Mike Arroyo used 2 choppers 16 times, son Mikey 69

Members of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s immediate family extensively used the two helicopters that were falsely sold to the Philippine National Police as brand new in 2009, according to flight records obtained by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG).

Based on the flight logs of the two Robinson R44 Raven 1 helicopters, it appeared that Arroyo’s husband, Jose Miguel “Mike” Arroyo, and their elder son, Ang Galing Rep. Juan Miguel “Mikey” Arroyo, virtually controlled the use of the helicopters, based on their frequent trips, DILG officials told the Inquirer on Tuesday.

Aside from the former first family, their friends from politics, business, as well as show business, used the helicopters...

There were several times when the flight records showed an “unspecified passenger.”

The DILG obtained the flight records in the course of its investigation into the allegedly anomalous purchase of the two secondhand helicopters for almost P105 million.

They were sold as brand new for the PNP’s Special Action Force, but the PNP had not used them since they were delivered in 2010 due to their questionable condition, according to the officials...

“It is clear to the PNP that this is an irregular transaction. Until now they are looking for proof of ownership of the seller,” Robredo said, adding his office was still investigating who were the real owners of the helicopters.

INQUIRER

Congressmen’s cut questioned

Members of the House of Representatives and policemen receive substantial amounts from net receipts of Small Town Lottery (STL) outlets in their areas of jurisdiction, officials of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) said...

Senator Lacson said that while the practice of giving cash directly to congressmen may be legal based on the current PCSO charter, “there may be questions about propriety.”

The PCSO said lawmakers were receiving 2.25 percent of the monthly net earnings of the STL outlets in their districts. The proceeds are given in cash and the legislators are not required to produce documents to liquidate what they receive.

The amount may be in addition to the payola the lawmakers are getting from operators of “jueteng,” an illegal numbers racket that STL seeks to replace.

Some of lawmakers from Ilocos to Bicol were not only receiving payoffs, but were directly involved in jueteng, whistle-blower Sandra Cam said in September last year before the House games and amusement committee.

Cam told reporters that the congressmen were getting a minimum of P500,000 each...

BUSINESS WORLD

Customs chief seeks authority for regular revamp
THE BUREAU of Customs (BoC) is awaiting approval by the Department of Finance (DoF) of its proposal to regularly reshuffle its officials and employees in an effort to prevent complacency and familiarity with importers which could encourage corruption...

In the Customs Administrative Order which BoC submitted to the DoF, all employees below director level will be reassigned after two years in a post...However, Customs officials and employees who fail to perform adequately can be removed from their positions even before they complete their prescribed two-year period...

Just last month, the Customs bureau implemented a revamp of its port staff nationwide, as the agency became flooded by successive smuggling scandals involving luxury vehicles and endangered marine species.

 

 

More IntegriNews

HEADLINES

Legislators who voted vs. Palace get no pork

Senate, House to have own whistle-blower's programs

Ombudsman dismisses Metro Manila Director of Department of Public Works and Highways for faking statement of assets and liabilities for almost four decades

Negros Occidental Vice Governor denies receipt of lottery money

2 Isabela cops nabbed for extortion

Pilot who ferried members of Arroyo family on helicopter later passed off as brand new and sold to Philippine National Police was also one of the inspectors who certified used chopper as brand new

Camarines Sur Governor alleges attempt to extort money from him by former provincial board member who has filed graft cases against him

Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office: Nothing illegal with some lawmakers benefiting from operations of small town lottery in their congressional districts

Arroyo appears at DOJ, answers plunder raps

Arroyo wants plunder charges dismissed

Aquino asked to account his P 1.46 B intelligence funds in 2011

Defense Secretary assures citizenry of a corrupt-free Defense department

30 police officers to be probed on helicopter controversy

25,000 members of Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) ineligible to apply for loan and receive dividends as result of suspension of their respective agencies

Ombudsman orders the of graft charges against former Maguindanao election supervisor for alleged involvement in widespread cheating in Maguindanao in May 2007 mid-term elections

GSIS suspends 287 member agencies for non-payment of dues

Senator files new bill that removes the discretion from PCSO board to disburse money

BIR files P33-M tax evasion rap vs Pichay

Pichay says tax evasion rap "political persecution"

Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) warns that about 288 mayors all over the country may be suspended if they fail to settle multimillion-peso contributions of their respective employees' to state pension fund

Department of Budget and Management supports Freedom of Information (FOI) bill, saying consistent with goal of Aquino administration to promote transparency.

"Euro general," wife post bail

"Euro general," wife in Sandiganbayan's custody

Arrest warrants out for "euro general," wife

Former President "will cooperate in probes"

At least 54 congressmen in 27 provinces across the country believed to have benefited from controversial small town lottery

Advocates push FoI bill passage

Sixteen days after they were charged with plunder before the Sandiganbayan, a warrant of arrest is yet to be issued against former Agriculture Secretary Luis Lorenzo, former Undersecretary Jocelyn I. Bolante and the other respondents who have been indicted for the P728 million fertilizer fund misuse

Govt eyes bulk purchases to cut cost

The provincial office of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) here welcomes the participation of non-government organization (NGO), G - Watch in monitoring government-initiated infrastructure projects implemented in Southern Leyte

Iloilo City Rep. Jerry Treñas and Iloilo City Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog are facing malversation of public funds charges in complaints filed before the Office of the Ombudsman

Camarines Sur Governor Luis "LRay" Villafuerte branded the malversation complaint filed before the Office of the Ombudsman by Camarines Sur Provincial board member Carlo Batalla as harassment

Caloocan City Mayor Enrico "Recom" Echiverri has asked the Court of Appeals (CA) to stop the preventive suspension order against him handed down by the Office of the Ombudsman.

Caloocan City Mayor Enrico Echiverri has to vacate his post immediately, Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Jesse Robredo said

Former Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Jesus Verzosa was not included in the list of 27 police personnel to be investigated in connection with the alleged anomalous procurement of three supposedly brand new helicopters worth P104.9 million, which turned out to be secondhand units.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) yesterday allowed three former military chiefs and 19 others implicated in the plunder complaint of former military budget officer retired Lt. Col. George Rabusa more time to submit their answer to the accusations.

Lawyers representing Jocelyn "Jocjoc" Bolante yesterday assured the Sandiganbayan that the former agriculture undersecretary is in Metro Manila and has no plans of fleeing the country again.

The rubber boats and outboard motor engines purchased at the height of Typhoon "Ondoy" in 2009 were three times higher than the boats and engines that went to the Special Action Force also on that same year, Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo said

"We have already seen significant levels of decrease in corruption in the Aquino administration, but it will take a long time to eradicate it, because unlike Singapore, the Philippines is not a small city-state," - Austin Chamberlain, AmCham president

Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority officials cleared from 2007 graft charges

Officials of Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office in quandary after Catholic bishops return controversial used vehicles bought with funds donated by PCSO...coordinating with Commission on Audit on what to do with the four vehicles

Gov't eyes national procurement system

WORLD BANK seeks immediate passage of Freedom of Information bill to push transparency in institutionalizing reforms on governance

COST-CUTTING MEASURES and streamlined procurement processes directed by President to Cabinet members in an effort to increase efficiency and curb corruption

BUREAU of Customs continues agency-wide reorganization...targeting its intelligence division to strengthen the detection of smuggling...shake-up aims to prevent the development of familiarity between intelligence agents and port users, which could foster corruption.

ILOILO City Mayor says he welcomes filing of criminal and administrative charges against him...for buying cakes for senior citizens in 32 separate purchases during Christmas and New Year...confident the case will not prosper

Ombudsman: Special Multi-Agency Reform Team, will "examine and investigate contracts and transactions entered into by government agencies through their respective officials and employees with the end view of expediting the prosecution of all perpetrators of corrupt activities, should the evidence so warrant."

Ombudsman files criminal charges against incumbent Pasay City Mayor, former Mayor and several other city officials for forging allegedly anomalous solid waste management contracts

Customs Commissioner spared the ax, starts revamp at Customs

Senator askss PCSO to explain why rich provinces were provided with more ambulances than poor ones

Morato grilled on ties to Malaysian company supplier of on-line lotto machines

Senate Minority Leader askS President to compel appointees to sign waiver allowing their bank accounts to be scrutinized in case they get involved in an investigation

CABINET OFFICIAL: Participation of civil society organizations in government's budget-setting process will be expanded next year to include other departments

Supreme Court affirms conviction of former Bureau of Immigration commissioner over graft and falsification charges for controversial flight of Indian drug traffickers popularly known as "11 Little Indians" in 1994

Congressmen get STL share without liquidation

27 PNP men face probe over helicopter deal

Philippine National Police confirm that certain members of former President's family used two helicopters "several times" before these were sold to PNP as brand new equipment

Ombud suspends Caloocan mayor for unpaid GSIS premiums

Caloocan mayor surprised by suspension order

Caloocan Mayor says he will not be leaving his post despite suspension from Ombudsman

MALACAÑANG orders Local Water Utilities Administration to implement dismissal order issued by Ombudsman against chairman

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile calls on current and former officials of Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office to give light on continuous leasing of lotto machines, which it could purchase at lower price

Revenue Integrity Protection Service (RIPS), anti-corruption unit of Buresau of Internal Revenue has filed 86 cases against 126 public officials, 51 of whom were suspended while 19 were already dismissed from service

Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation files charges against former chairman and two sons for misuse of donated rice from Japanese firm

Supreme Court ssked to declare Government Owned and Controlled Corporation Governance law "unconstitutional"

Bureau of Customs (BoC) denies release of manufactured products of stainless steel importer whose delivery truck was seized...described by owners as "unlawful"

VENDOR HARASSMENT: Concerned employees of the National Printing Office have asked Justice Secretary Leila de Lima to step into the issue of an alleged blacklisted contractor of paper forms trying to harass them through filing of baseless cases after losing a bid

Customs adopts 2-year reshuffle rule

Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma: "The truth is there was nothing illegal, unconstitutional and anomalous" with the donation of vehicles to bishops

Christian leaders vow to support "righteous path" espoused by President Aquino to end corruption in society.

Lawyers advise former President to keep silent on new charges of election cheating and corruption

Senate to probe lotto machines deal

Philippines asks US: How did stolen cars, bikes get out?

 

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IntegriViews
OPINION

Peeking at the truth

By:

If our society wants transparency, it will not happen by itself. Telling lies, stealing money, and hi-jacking elections have not only damaged our value system, they have been assimilated in it.

Filipinos naturally assume that those who run for office do so because they are power-hungry and because they want to enrich themselves.

The same is assumed when people apply for positions in government because they prefer certain positions like Customs or BIR, or aim for government financial institutions like the DBP, GSIS and SSS, long known to give lavish allowances and perks.

If we do not trust politicians even when they are not yet elected, if we do not trust public servants even before they are appointed, then we will not trust them when they actually assume their positions.

We have a government, represented by elected and appointed officials, whose primary relationship with the Filipino people is based on distrust.

Any act that goes against the deepest aspirations of the people, like the search for truth, even by declaring it as unconstitutional, justifies the distrust and intensifies it.

The depth of that distrust spans centuries when the concept of a national government was first introduced to the Filipino people as a mechanism for foreign masters to oppress and exploit the natives of our archipelago.

Governments since 1946 already run by Filipinos never understood the kind of resentment that Filipinos developed against national government. They assumed wrongly that the people would automatically feel great kinship with them.

Trust is most difficult to establish when the beginning is distrust. It is not only about building trust but dismantling distrust. Building and dismantling need distinct modules or programs — even as daily operations of government must go on.

The vision of national leadership must incorporate both building trust and dismantling distrust.
Building trust is governing with integrity and transparency.

Dismantling distrust is go relentlessly against officials who had committed crimes, who had lied, stolen people’s money and abused their positions of power and authority. It is about planting just as it is about weeding.

For a president whose critics(mostly those who were already against him during the presidential campaign) accuse as having no vision, as having no executive ability, as having no hands-on leadership, P-Noy has achieved beyond expectations.

INVITATION TO PLUNDER: Remember that TV commercial with a male voice singing, "Ikaw ang kanlungan ng nangangailangan, ikaw ang pag-asa at kinabukasan, haplos mo ay lunas sa bawat pagal, salamat sa iyong dampi ng pagmamahal"? It ended with "PCSO, PCSO," but belying those treacly words' object of devotion were the background visuals, which showed Arroyo waving to crowds, embracing babies and old folk, distributing goodiesthe virtual mother of the nation, in short. The PCSO, it was clear, was no longer the agency dispensing the loving, soothing caress to the nation's poor. Nor was it the country's "pag-asa at kinabukasan" (even in ideal circumstances, why, indeed, should it be?). GMA herself now fulfilled the part. As propaganda masquerading as a TV ad, it was a blood-curdlingly awful one. But as an illustration, however unintended, of the perverse way Arroyo had transformed the PCSO tills into her personal drawing accountas if the poor owed her gratitude because she was helping them out of her own pocketit was spot-on. -- Editorial in Philippine Daily Inquirer

AGUIALDO DOCTRINE: "...any elected public official who gets tagged for an offense but is reelected after the commission of the offense is deemed exonerated..." The fragile faith of ordinary people in our judicial system and government's power to enforce the law can only, surely, hopelessly be eroded this way. -- Editoriasl in SunStar

GEARING UP?: If PCGG is truly "winding-down," why do its commissioners still insist on forcing their way back into corporations that had already been removed from its jurisdiction? All the more so if PCGG's removal is attributed to the agency's dereliction of duty and sins of commission. This sounds more like a "gearing-up," not "winding down." After a Senate investigation committee blamed it for fraud, abuse and wastage, plus "lack of accountability and transparency," PCGG was made to relinquish its stranglehold on Philcomsat, including its 81-percent-owned subsidiary, which was never sequestered in the first place. Why not leave Philcomsat in the capable hands of DoF's Privatization Management Office? -- Federico D. Pascual Jr. in The Philippine Star

Just when we thought that the Office of the Ombudsman was hopelessly mired in its bureaucracy, a couple of months after the resignation of Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez, all of a sudden, as if someone put grease on the cog in the wheels of justice, the celebrated cases that we've been writing about for so many years began to unravel in decisions from the Office of the Ombudsman, which then validates our suspicions that perhaps then Ombudsman Gutierrez was indeed sitting on these cases. -- Bobit S. Avila (The Philippine Star

The detailed indictments, filed by the new PAGCOR management, should be accompanied by reforms that will bring more transparency in the utilization of gaming funds. Vague rules and opaqueness in fund utilization encourage abuse in the use of public money. This picture is also emerging in the ongoing Senate probe into fund utilization by the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office during the Arroyo administration. The Senate inquiry on the PCSO and the charges filed against former PAGCOR officials should lead to the plugging of opportunities for fund misuse in the two gaming agencies. A clear line should be drawn between public and private funds. -- Editorial in The Philippine Star

The Visayas-Ombudsman surprised me with its decision on the 2005 alleged computer overpricing case in Lapu-Lapu City. If one could remember, the same office took off the hook Cebu City barangay officials for the purchase of computers at P99,000 each years before Lapu-Lapu City bought computers at P45,000 each. While the ombudsman successfully buried into oblivion the P99,000 overpricing complaint, the P45,000 case was dug up and pushed. The anti-graft body ordered the suspension of 12 Lapu-Lapu City officials...selective amnesia? >>> I also remember reading news items about a COA report on allegedly anomalous rice importations by the National Food Authority (NFA) during the time of President Arroyo. Because of the ombudsman's inaction on this, the same local players involved are enjoying heydays of rice importations at the Cebu International Port (CIP) up to September 2011. They are enjoying President Aquino's matuwid na daan at the expense of our rice farmers. Unfortunately for poor rice farmers, their organizations are not that strong, unlike sugar barons who easily make a lot of noise when news about sugar smuggling comes out. -- Anol Mongaya in SunStar

PAJERAZZI: Margie Juico of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office...has just committed one of the most serious blunders a public servant can ever do - to accuse and impute malice where there was none. I have reviewed the video of her media interview several times over. She now says she never mentioned "Pajero." But she did. And for saying that, she was able to successfully create a media fiesta that vilified innocent people. Face the consequences and pay her debts she now must do. A wrong had been done. The bishops have paid a very dear price. But Margie Juico is scot-free. There is a serious question that is now raised about media ethics. One blogger said it well: Manila media "have practically made a livelihood of libel and defamation, and nobody gives a hoot. This is a signal to revisit what is right and what is wrong." -- Antonio Montalvan II in Philippine Daily Inquirer

GENERALS: FRY OR FINGER? From documents in Sen. Panfilo Lacson's possession, Philippine National Police generals might fry. They're implicated in a July 2009 purchase of two old light helicopters, at a higher price than brand new...From records, a brand new civilian unit at the time cost only P24 million. Meaning, the two old ones were overpriced by at least P7 million each, at the P31-million contract price. And these were passed off as brand new... Citing documents, Lacson avers that the two used choppers were owned by then-First Gentleman Mike Arroyo. Both were bought in early 2004, supposedly for Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's presidential run...From flight logs, Lacson says, the most frequent passengers of the two choppers were members of the then-First Family. The choppers also used to land at the restricted Area-3 in Malacañang Park, reserved only for presidential flights. From Lacsons documents, the PNP officers seem directly involved in fraud...Lacson is in effect telling the generals to detail the pressures they underwent to accept the used choppers as brand new. By pinpointing the masterminds, they can lessen their participation to mere accessories. -- Jarius Bondoc in The Philippine StaR

 

Pera Natin 'to!
Read more in-depth corruption articles
The Philippine Public Transparency Reporting Project and website aim to put under the public spotlight important issues such as control and management of the nation’s public wealth (click below to read full articles)

All Doesn’t Seem Well at Davao Customs

...an apparent breakdown in the system to check imports at the wharf that began in February last year and may have led to losses to the BOC as a result of increased smuggling.

Conditiona​l Cash Transfer Program - Is Money Being Skimmed Off?
 

...complaints have included those based on simple inclusion errors, and non-receipt of cash grants to serious allegations that the amounts received are somehow being "slashed."

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