BY IRMA ISIP
AN alliance of business and Church groups and
civil society organizations is calling for reforms to eradicate
corruption, citizen participation in budget planning and
prosecution of corrupt officials.
The call was made by the Coalition against
Corruption which is composed of the Ateneo School of Government,
Management Association of the Philippines, Makati Business Club,
National Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections, Transparency and
Accountability Network, Bishops-Businessmen’s Conference for
Human Development, Caucus of Development NGO Networks,
Integrated Bar of the Philippines, Barug Pilipino, Sangguniang
Laiko ng Pilipinas, and the National Secretariat for Social
Action, Justice and Peace of the Catholic Bishops Conference of
the Philippines.
"We have not witnessed corruption of this
magnitude since the years of the Marcos dictatorship," the group
said.
However, the group added, no one has been
held accountable.
The group’s call followed a similar call made
by Archbishop Angel Lagdameo and four other bishops late
October, who said the people should prepare for a new government
amid rampant corruption in the current administration.
The CAC said citizens should be allowed to
participate in local development planning and budget reviews to
find out how public funds are being used.
The group also called for the strengthening
of the civil service.
It urged the Ombudsman to act on pending
high-profile corruption cases, noting that except for former AFP
comptroller Maj. Gen. Carlos Garcia, no one has been held
accountable.
The group said instead of punishing the
whistleblowers, the government should punish the corrupt.
It said the unchecked rise of corruption is
seriously hampering efforts to reduce poverty and is adversely
affecting the country’s economic competitiveness.
Most alarming, it said, "is the moral impact
of this virulent cancer on our citizenry, especially the youth."
The CAC cited the country’s poor performance
in various corruption ratings. In the Millennium Challenge
Philippine scorecard for 2009, the Philippines’ percentile
ranking fell to 47 percent from 57 percent in 2008 and in the
2008 Corruption Perceptions Index of Transparency International
the Philippines placed in the bottom quarter of 180 countries.
The CAC said it was not surprised over the
findings because of the series of scandals hounding the Arroyo
government since 2001, including the fertilizer scam, the
alleged anomalous North and South Rail projects, alleged
cheating by the Arroyo camp in the 2004 presidential elections,
bribery of congressmen and other local officials, the NBN-ZTE
bribery scandal, the Jose Pidal case, the MegaPacific
computerization deal of the Commission on Elections, and the
Moscow incident involving high-ranking PNP officials.
The group said President Arroyo has shown no interest in
using the powers and resources at her disposal to get to the
root of all the scandals, and has in fact allowed the misuse of
her power of executive privilege to hinder investigations into
acts of official corruption.
