Sunday, November 12, 2006 Senate committed to fight corruption: Villar
SENATE President Manuel Villar said the adoption of Senate Resolution 108 ratifying the UN Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) demonstrates the Senate’s commitment to the rule of law and international diplomacy and manifests the Upper Chamber’s principled stand in addressing the corruption issue.
The resolution’s approval has effectively ratified the landmark international treat which spells out the country’s renewed commitment in promoting and strengthening the legal mechanism in winning the battle against corruption in both government and private sectors, Villar said.
Sponsored on the floor by Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago, chairperson of the Senate committee on foreign relations, the Convention commits the Philippines into adopting new modalities that aim to effectively lick corruption.
Villar stressed that addressing the problem of corruption with concrete measures and political will should be first in the line of priority reform measures that the government is implementing.
“The government may be gaining headway in putting the fiscal house in order, but all these would be put to naught if the endemic corruption that pervades in Philippine society goes unchecked,” Villar said.
Villar said the Convention aims to promote and strengthen measures in the prevention, investigation and prosecution of corruption including the freezing, seizure, confiscation and recover of proceeds of corrupt practices.
“The Convention recognizes that corruption threatens the stability and security of societies, undermines institutions and values of democracy and justice and calls for international cooperation in addressing the problem,” he said.
The UNCAC was adopted by the UN General Assembly on Oct. 21, 2003 with 140 countries, including the Philippines, signing as States Parties. Sixty countries already ratified the Convention wherein the Philippines is the first among the Southeast Asian countries to have ratified it.
The Convention’s key feature is the groundbreaking provision that institutionalizes asset recovery as a new principle in defeating corruption.
Villar said this is the first time that an international instrument has laid down the principle of asset recovery and established modalities for its implementation.
The principle is enshrined in several articles that seeks to identify owners of so-called high value accounts; prevent the establishment of banks that have no physical presence and are not affiliated with a regulated financial group; permit another State to establish title to property acquired through corruption; permit its courts to order those guilty of corruption to pay compensation to a State that has been harmed by corruption; permit its courts to give effect to a foreign confiscation order; permits its authorities to order confiscation of property; permits its authorities to freeze or seize property upon order issued by a foreign court; and return confiscated property or public funds.
The Convention also requires countries to cooperate with one another in every aspect of the fight against corruption; render specific forms of mutual legal assistance in gathering and transferring evidence for use in court to extradite offenders; and undertake measures that will support tracing, freezing, seizure and confiscation of proceeds of corruption.
Villar said the timely concurrence with the ratification of the Convention comes on the heels of the latest report of Transparency International (TI), which listed the country as one of the most corrupt nations in the world. (CPB/Sunnex)
