Saturday, March 15, 2008 Cebu City walk launches anti-graft campaign
PEOPLE marched from the Provincial Capitol to the Cebu City Sports Complex yesterday as the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas held its road show to launch a multi-sectoral anti-graft movement here in the Visayas.
In what an official said was a sign that many people in the government still value integrity, those who joined the march then packed the CCSC grandstand to listen to the address of Tanodbayan Merceditas Gutierrez.
Gutierrez, in her speech, cited the need to coordinate anti-graft efforts even as she highlighted the headway that the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas has been making in the fight against graft and corruption.
“We’ve seen the cooperation of our partner agencies, we have witnessed their strong support in this anti-corruption program. In so far as the assessment, it is a success (and) we congratulate the people who attended,” said Overall Deputy Ombudsman Orlando Casimiro yesterday.
Anti-graft program
Yesterday’s road show launched the National Anti-Corruption Program of Action.
The program aims to “to raise awareness of the general public that the government and private sectors are collaborating in relentlessly fighting the menace of corruption.”
It likewise envisions “to show that there are good and honest people who have committed themselves in pushing for reforms in the bureaucracy to eradicate graft and corruption.”
It will be implemented by the Multi-Sectoral Anti-Corruption Council – a group of key people from the public and private sectors.
It is composed of the Tanodbayan as lead convener and has representatives from the executive and legislative departments as well as the judiciary, the academe, the youth, constitutional bodies, professional groups, business community, media and local governments.
Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña also delivered a speech during the launching and highlighted the need for transparency in government.
He offered a formula that explains how corruption comes about in any agency.
“Monopoly plus discretion minus transparency equals corruption,” he said.
Gutierrez snubbed a press conference that the people at the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas organized and instead delegated attendance to Overall Deputy Ombudsman Casimiro.
At the conference, the issue of transparency surfaced again, specifically how there was little of it inside the Office of the Ombudsman itself.
Members of the media questioned why the anti-graft office continues to withhold access to newly filed complaints.
Confidentiality
“In so far as our office is concerned, we adhere to this confidentiality rule,” Casimiro said.
However, he quickly pointed out that nothing questionable is being done behind closed doors.
“We aren’t sitting on cases or purposely not acting on some of them. We don’t pick who to investigate and who to ignore. We act on everything and decide on cases based only on the evidence that is submitted,” he said.
Assistant Ombudsman Evelyn Baliton, during the conference, said the anti-graft office has been making headway in the prosecution of cases against high-ranking officials.
“We have been monitoring the conviction rate and comparing to the six percent of the previous years, it went up to double or triple in 2006 and, the latest is 35 percent,” she said.
This meant that three to four out of 10 high ranking officials the anti-graft office charges before the Sandiganbayan get convicted. KNR
