Too much corruption can kill you

Political corruption is the use of legislated strength by government officials for illegitimate personal benefit. Wrong use of government power for other reasons, such as being kept down by force of political contradictory and police cruelness, is not considered political corruption. Neither are illegal acts by private persons or corporations not directly involved with the government. An illegal act by an officeholder constitutes political corruption only if the act is directly related to their official duties. Perhaps it could mean the perversion of integrity.

           

According to a World Bank study, RP now achieved the label of “the worst among East Asia’s leading economies” and to that, we are now in the bottom of the list. The corruption here in the Philippines worsened and brought down during the administration of PGMA. The corruption we are now facing and trying to conquer is uncontrollable. The rich gets richer and the poor gets poorer. What’s wrong with them? They should help us not bring us down. People are poor to a huge scope because of extensive corruption. Those who hold political power is against people’s rights to achieve and keep up that power. A cycle has repeated over the years that passed by. The lingering process of it kept it stronger and stronger. These constant political crises in our country are due to mismatched form of government. We should just have a legitimate change, one that disperses political power of the president to the political party in power as in a legislative body form of government. The possession of governance can last anywhere between 1 day to decades depending the voters approval. Then, the Philippines should just be a centralized government giving regional governments more political power.

 

           

Corruption has become so established in the public life that it is well thought-out as normal. Transparency in government transactions and regular check up on projects are key factors in fighting corruption. Corruption always involves more than one person. On the whole, it involves secrecy. "If there is no love for your people from the ruling class that is when you get a banana republic."

Poll: Filipinos still divided on gov't campaign vs. corruption

Amid probes and plunder charges filed against government officials, half of Pinoys are still in doubt of the government’s ability to fight corruption.

“Only 54 percent see real progress over the past year in the current administration’s attempts to improve transparency and accountability and reduce corruption,” according to a poll conducted by the Philippine Public Transparency Reporting Project (PPTRP) revealed in a round table event in Quezon City Tuesday.

The poll was conducted between June and August this year, PPTRP added.

Though the polls result is surprising, Senate Blue Ribbon Committee Chairman Teofisto “TG” Guingona III said corruption can still be solved through transparent and efficient use of the public funds.

“Transparency and efficiency are possible only if those who hold the public purse are aware that the money does not belong to them. They are merely stewards of the funds and the public wealth is people’s money,” he said.

Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo, on the other hand, highlighted that the Department of Interior and Local Government currently pushes for a full disclosure policy among local government units. He said this can done through the use of website posting and media accessibility.

Another key finding in PPTRP’s survey is that majority or more than 90 percent of the respondents believe that the government needs to work closely with ordinary citizens and public sectors to increase transparency and reduce corruption.

“We need to build public transparency. We now have a window of opportunity with the new government being pro-transparency. We have to exploit this opportunity by involving the citizens,” said PPTRP Director Alan Davis.

Commission on Audit (COA) Chief Ma. Gracia Pulido-Tan revealed that the COA is organizing a Citizen’s Participatory Audit project that would encourage the public’s involvement in the gathering of data, validation of findings, monitoring of auditors, among others.

However, Tan said that for now, the commission can only accept complaints and leads on anomalous audit reports from the public through the citizen’s desk service.

Rodolfo “Jun” Lozada, a whistleblower and star witness in the multi-million NBN ZTE scandal, appealed that as whistleblowers and truth-tellers come out, there is a growing need for a community or a network to support them.

“Truth is such a huge burden, a fatal commodity. But do not bring the truth to the grave,” he said.

Earlier in July, the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee questioned the P160 million budget for the intelligence fund of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office in 2010, which critics say may have been used as campaign kitty by the former administration.

http://ph.news.yahoo.com/poll--filipinos-still-divided-on-gov-t-campaign-vs--corruption.html

Dirty Hands of Gloria II

P325M is such a huge amount. But where did it go? Was it really used for used for intelligence operations? For us Filipinos?

Since Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is no longer the president. She doesn’t possess any immunity against that case. She could no longer make her presidency as an alibi. Now, she’s facing a new chapter which could change and prove her dishonesty when she was still the president.

Plunder, to rob or fleece and it is an unbailable offense, a case which GMA is now facing. Acting Ombudsman Orlando Casimiro ordered the probe in the wake of revelations made during Senate Blue Ribbon committee hearings on the PCSO fund anomalies.

Filipinos elected her to help us not to fool us. She made us look dumb and gullible. She could have helped us solve poverty, but instead, “giunay ta niya”. What Filipinos worked for was put into waste.

There are tons and tons of things which a P325M could do to us. It could shelter and feed the poor. It could help recover those who were hit by typhoons. But what happened is that, the rich got richer and the poor got poorer.

This time, it’s pay back time. Maybe this time, the truth will prevail.

Dirty Hands of Gloria

Gloria Arroyo may face plunder over PCSO spy fund

Former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, now Pampanga representative, may face charges of plunder over allegations that she had approved the allocation of hundreds of millions of pesos in charity funds for possibly nonexistent projects.

The smoking gun: board memoranda of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) requesting additional funds for intelligence operations that she approved from 2008 to 2010.

Former PCSO General Manager Rosario Uriarte on Thursday confirmed before the Senate blue ribbon committee that Arroyo had signed or initialed the memos in her presence.

The PCSO spent P325 million in confidential intelligence funds from 2008 to 2010, according to Uriarte.

“These are very damaging. The Ombudsman should take a look at these testimonies and see what liability the former President has,” Senator Franklin Drilon said after the hearing.

Sen. Teofisto Guingona III, chair of the blue ribbon committee, was more forthright: “It implicates the former President in this whole mystery. It makes her a coconspirator… When you steal more than P50 million, it’s plunder.”

The anti-plunder law defines plunder as the direct or indirect amassing by a public official of at least P50 million in ill-gotten wealth through a combination or a series of acts like misappropriating public funds and illegal disposition of government assets. Plunder is a nonbailable offense.

In Malacañang, presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said the Aquino administration would not hesitate to file charges against Arroyo if the Senate probe would yield enough proof to link her to any wrongdoing.

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, however, said the committee could not pin down Arroyo over Uriarte’s disclosures.

“Of course the approving authority is the President. The President probably relied on their representation. There are a lot of things that have to be unearthed first before you can pin down the responsibility for the approving authority,” Enrile later told reporters.

Being a member of the House of Representatives, Arroyo could not be invited to the inquiry.

Grilled by senators for hours, Uriarte said the PCSO made the biggest spending—P138 million out of the approved P160 million in intelligence fund—in 2010, an election year.

Arroyo signed the PCSO memos requesting additional intelligence funds from 2008 to 2010 and in Uriarte’s presence. The former PCSO executive pointed out that all intelligence funds needed the President’s approval.

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/22097/gloria-arroyo-may-face-plunder-over-pcso-spy-fund