Graft on the Rise

Inquirer reported that graft is on the rise. Why? Because government officials lost all hiya. Since, there is no one to check their excesses and no legitimate opposition to even fight them, they will just plunder our coffers with impunity.

Where is the Magdalo? Where is the ABB? Where are the sparrows? Where are the NPA's? I thought you guys are the self-appointed and annointed saviours of the People.

Start mowing these grafters down. Start sharpening your bolos.

CALLING ALL MAGDALOS, IF THERE ARE ONE. CALLING ALL BAGONG KATIPUNEROS, IF THERE ARE STILL SOME. ARE WE ALL JUST PROPAGANDISTS? WHEN WILL BE THE TIME WHEN WE WILL PUT WHERE OUR MOUTHS ARE.

TIME TO BE GREAT, MY FRIENDS!


‘Big-time graft on the rise’
Watchdog blames gov’t air of secrecy

By Kristine L. Alave
Inquirer
Last updated 02:01am (Mla time) 08/01/2007
MANILA, Philippines -- The shroud of secrecy surrounding high-level government contracts has led to the rise of “grander” and more lucrative corrupt practices in the Arroyo administration, anticorruption crusaders said Tuesday.

But red tape and petty corruption, such as bribery, have decreased because of the anti-red tape executive order issued by Malacañang last year, Vincent Lazatin, executive director of Transparency and Accountability Network (TAN), said.

The executive order reduced transaction fees and trimmed bureaucratic dealings in several frontline agencies.

“Bribery is going down. But the grand or bigger types of corruption are on the rise,” said Segundo Romero, a senior fellow at the Development Academy of the Philippines (DAP), which presented Tuesday corruption prevention studies under its Corruption Prevention Action Project.

The observation tends to support foreign businessmen’s perception of corruption in the country’s public sector.

Asked early this year by the Hong Kong-based Political and Economic Risk Consultancy (PERC) to assess the corruption problem in the public sector, the businessmen gave an average score of nine. In the PERC grading system, zero is the best possible score and 10 the worst.

A survey conducted by Social Weather Stations from March 4 to May 11 also found that the scale of corruption in the government remained high.

Lazatin said it was becoming more difficult for watchdog groups to get information and gain access to documents in the Arroyo administration.

“It’s much, much harder. I think there is a decrease in transparency and good governance,” Lazatin said in an interview at the DAP presentation.

Departments in the Arroyo administration have been stingy about releasing documents and information of public interest, he said.

Contracts with Japan, China

Lazatin cited the government’s refusal to disclose the documents and papers on the controversial Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement and the more recent $330-million broadband contract between the Philippine government and the Chinese telecommunication firm, ZTE Corp.

It’s also harder to obtain statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) of government officials and politicians, and some agencies have resorted to dilatory tactics, Lazatin said.

Lazatin’s group has asked the Office of the Ombudsman to release the SALN of Commission on Elections Chair Benjamin Abalos Sr. but the agency still has not acted on the request despite several calls, he said.

Lazatin and Romero said the atmosphere of confidentiality was breeding bigger types of corruption, such as kleptocracy, plunder and cronyism.

All the secrecy gives high-level government officials more chances to funnel wealth from the public coffers and undermines efforts at the bureaucratic level to eradicate corruption, Lazatin said.

‘Mother of all corruption’

Romero noted that the May elections also contributed to the rise of the more lucrative corruption practices.

“Elections are the mother of all corruption. You have guns, goons and gold. And ‘Hello Garci,”’ Romero said, the last referring to the taped conversations between Ms Arroyo and former Election Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano supposedly to rig the 2004 presidential election.

The studies presented in the first batch of the DAP anticorruption course focused on the “glitches” in the system.

These problems may be small and “undramatic,” but if accumulated over time, these little things translate to tremendous losses for the government, officials said.

Romero said the 12 studies on various flaws made by the students -- all career officials at several agencies -- would be implemented in their respective departments.

In a study by Eden Caluya, it was revealed that the Department of Public Works and Highways was losing millions of pesos on car rentals for foreign-funded infrastructure projects.

High-end vehicles

Because foreign-funded works are exempt from the cap set by the Department of Budget and Management and there is no clear departmental guideline on car rentals, it has become a practice in the DPWH to rent high-end vehicles instead of the cheaper and more appropriate pickup trucks for construction projects, Caluya said.

“Elimination of corruption vulnerabilities even in the smallest activities should be addressed and not taken for granted because these small areas, with their rate of recurrence, can make a big difference and/or create a great impact,” Caluya said.

Bureau of Customs

Another study at the Bureau of Customs (BOC) demanded changes in the control procedures and inventory of accountable forms.

Marinel Nario, the BOC employee who made the study, noted that such forms were overlooked and that there were “significant weaknesses” in the requisition, issuance, reporting and monitoring of the forms, which are collected for the BOC’s financial statements.

As a result, there is “wastage and inefficient use of government funds.”

The lack of controls can also lead to the unauthorized use of the forms, Nario said.