PRESIDENT GLORIA Macapagal-Arroyo on Monday declared a people’s
war against graft and corruption, as she placed the full resources
of government and enjoined the citizenry to get involved in the fight.
"There can be no exceptions whether made out of fear or favor,
or because of family and business connections" in stopping graft
and corruption that have victimized the people for so long, the President
said in her speech during rites marking People Power 2 at the EDSA
Shrine.
Macapagal said it was imperative "to mobilize the real victims
of corruption—the general public" who bear the brunt of
the social malady.
"The ordinary Filipino is in the best position to complain"
because corruption has spawned the deterioration of their standard
of living, she added.
The President thus called for "a national draft of all good
men and women who want to make a difference in your lives and in our
country" by working closely with the government in exposing graft
and corrupt practices committed by public officials and employees.
She asked the "idealistic youth and the silent majority to be
our eyes and ears" in stopping graft and corrupt practices.
She ordered the Presidential Anti-Graft Commission (PAGC) to receive
reports and follow these through until the perpetrators are put behind
the bars of justice.
She also announced that she had doubled the budget of the PAGC so
that it could put up an investigative unit to undertake intensive
lifestyle checks on public officials. This would link the government
and the people in the anti-graft thrust.
As the Chief Executive urged lawyers to volunteer their services
to the Ombudsman and the Department of Justice to help expose fraud
and prosecute errant public servants, she also called on Congress
to pass the bill letting the Ombudsman get the help of private lawyers
for free.
She ordered the Department of the Budget and Management (DBM) to
allot P35 million for the Ombudsman to recruit 50 lawyers for its
investigation and prosecution work.
Similar funds would also be provided to increase troop complement
and to acquire state-of-the-art weaponry and information technology
systems in the government’s anti-graft drive.
The President likewise asked the Ombudsman to make available to the
public the statements of assets and liabilities of all public officials,
including presidential advisers, and to "pro-actively observe
government procurement involving large amounts."
In another directive, Macapagal ordered the DBM to also provide P700
million to step up the modernization of the Bureau of Internal Revenue
(BIR), particularly for its information and communication technology
department that had been able to track down tax evaders.
She cited the BIR and the Bureau of Customs for "quietly working"
and starting to be showcases in the fight against graft and corruption.
The BIR, for one, was able to make major companies to agree to pay
an aggregate of over P3 billion after a tax investigation of an arrested
customs official.
The President also ordered the abolition of the bonded trading warehouse
system, after crackdowns resulted in the closure of more than 300
customs bonded warehouses that have become notorious for smuggling.
"In due time, you will see more results," she stressed.
She also called on Congress "to create the National Authority
for Revenue Administration, changing the BIR from a populous and ponderous
bureaucracy to a lean and mean corruption fighting machine."
She said she launched the anti-corruption campaign "to raise
the moral standards in politics and the economy."
"Corruption is the worst enemy of progress and social justice
because it robs the state of the resources to prosecute the war against
poverty," she added.
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News release from www.gov.ph.
