Sunday, March 16, 2008 Ombud defends training as way to fight graft
WITH only 27 “meaningful convictions” in 27 years, the anti-graft office’s performance in fighting corruption has been dismal, a professor said during a book-launching yesterday.
Manila-based professor and editor Bobby Tuazon brought into question the agency’s capacity to perform its mandate, even as an anti-graft official parried last Friday accusations that they misused funds for “useless trainings.”
In particular, a mediation training given to graft investigators assigned to the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas reportedly costs P500,000.
There is no mediation program in sectoral offices.
Despite such criticism, a proposal to re-delegate to deputies the ombudsman’s authority to approve anti-graft cases involving low-ranking officials is being studied.
Overall Deputy Ombudsman Orlando Casimiro said the proposal would decentralize some processes.
It will also address the “erroneous perception” that there are lots of inactive cases at the central office, he said.
One such case is that of former congresswoman Clavel Asas-Martinez, over allegations that she deposited into her personal bank account some pork barrel funds intended for the Girl Scouts of the Philippines (GSP).
Only 27?
Casimiro, with other ranking anti-graft officials, was in Cebu Friday for the Multi-Sectoral Anti-Corruption Council launching.
The next day, a Center for People Empowerment in Governance book titled “Dissecting Corruption, Philippine Perspectives” was launched also in Cebu.
On that occasion, Tuazon delivered a lecture where he cited a Transparency International report that took into account 79,000 cases filed before the Sandiganbayan between 1971 to 2006.
The report detailed how the ombudsman only got 27 “meaningful convictions” involving two governors, a slew of town mayors, and two vice mayors during the 27-year period.
And this, Tuazon said, is not only true in the anti-graft office and the Sandiganbayan.
The ombudsman acts as the prosecutor at the Sandiganbayan, which serves as the trial court for anti-graft cases involving high-ranking public officials.
“The (Presidential Commission on Good Governance) spent more in the proceedings to sequester the Marcos ill-gotten wealth than what it actually recovered. This is why so many people are asking for the PCGG to be disbanded now,” Tuazon said.
Getting better
Assistant Ombudsman Evelyn Baliton, who was with Casimiro last Friday, stressed that 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 compared to six percent (during) the previous years, it went up to double or triple in 2006; and the latest is 35 percent,” she said.
The latest figure she cited means that three to four out of 10 high-ranking officials the anti-graft office charge before the Sandiganbayan get convicted.
Deputy Ombudsman for Mindanao Humphrey Monteroso, on the other hand, said there were a lot of convictions during his term as an ombudsman deputy special prosecutor.
He mentioned a few cases from Cebu, including that of former Cebu City Hall paymaster Rosalina Badana, who fled with P18.5 million in government revenues.
Baliton said they are trying to raise their efficiency even higher, thus the capacity-building training provided to investigators.
The training courses, she said, include alternative resolution methods like mediation, which an agency source said cost P500,000.
‘Useless’
The same source said the seminar is practically useless since there is no mediation program inside the anti-graft office; and corruption charges “cannot be settled.”
All that the trainings do is take them away from their work while new cases for them to act on pile up, said the source, who requested anonymity for fear of sanctions.
“If they have the money, why don’t they just hire new graft investigators? This way, there will be more people dividing what needs to be done,” the source said.
“Why don’t they just add it (seminar funding) to our existing salaries? It would be a good way to boost morale,” the source added.
In the interview last Friday, Baliton said the National Government never spent anything for the trainings, as the anti-graft office received assistance in the form of the training itself.
She said the mediation training was under the millennium challenge account of the United States-funded Millennium Challenge Corp.
She maintained that the anti-graft office does have a mediation program and added that there are about 450 cases up for mediation nationwide. (KNR)
