Are you listening? Back from Thailand. Arroyo is welcomed by husband Jose Miguel. – PHOTO BY JAY CHUA
Losing war vs corruption
Ombudsman indictments drop 66%
BY PETER TABINGO
THE numbers are in and the grafters and the corrupt clearly
are winning.
In the last 10 years starting 1999, the Office of the
Ombudsman filed 4,056 indictments against public officials, down 66 percent
from 11,933 cases filed between 1989 and 1998.
This at a time of widespread perception that corruption has
become worse than it was during the time of President Ferdinand Marcos.
THE US government has said corruption
is among the reasons the drug menace continues to pose a
"significant" threat in the Philippines.
In its 2009 International Narcotics
Control Strategy Report (INCSR), dated February 27 but
made available only yesterday, the US State Department
noted repeated involvement of police authorities and
government officials in drug-related activities.
"Corruption of police and other public
officials remains an obstacle to better law enforcement…
It poses a significant challenge to Philippine law
enforcement efforts," the INCSR said.
Gordon prods
Gutierrez
into going after ‘wolf packs’
BY JP LOPEZ
THE Senate Blue Ribbon committee headed by
Sen. Richard Gordon urged the Ombudsman to go after the "wolf
packs" that operated in the P728 million fertilizer fund scam.
Gordon said the committee’s investigation
exposed only a segment of the scam, which was allegedly
engineered by former agriculture undersecretary Jocelyn Bolante
through the Department of Agriculture’s fertilizer project.
"We dread to see the unleashing of packs of
wolves feasting upon already scarce resources of government. In
all probability, there were other wolf packs involved in the
disposition of the remaining P535 million in fertilizer funds
that have yet to be traced," he said.
