MANILA, Philippines – The government intends to file at least two major cases against former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo before December as part of President Aquino’s commitment to fight graft and corruption, Budget Secretary Florencio Abad said yesterday.
“There is a group doing work on that and I’m not at liberty at this stage to tell you what is the progress but certainly, the President is determined to pursue the cases before the year ends,” Abad said.
Abad told reporters that aside from the “people at work” on the possible cases, the investigations in the Senate “helped us accelerate the preparation” for these cases.
“The President is keenly aware that the credibility of his administration in fighting graft and corruption vigorously hinges on being able to put a closure on those cases… he will continue to be unrelenting on that,” Abad said.
Abad said the President had given instructions to the Department of Justice to pursue the cases.
Abad also explained that the administration was continuously working to eliminate corruption and wastage in government spending.
On the part of Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), he said some 20 to 30 percent of government funds had been saved on infrastructure projects.
“When you say corruption then there has to be a final determination, but certainly these are costs added to costing of infrastructure projects that should have not been added but could be made part of the direct cost of the project. Therefore, from being part of the indirect cost like all sorts of administrative coordinative activities, Secretary (Rogelio) Singson has been able to put that to use and made it part of the direct cost of building the roads,” Abad said.
He said that in the last 10 years, there was “really no internal control system in the bureaucracy” because there was only one instance that the budget was not reenacted. “You know when that happens, practically the whole budget is the President’s budget” and “with very little limits to it because everything else becomes like one big pork barrel for the President, except for salaries and overhead.”
“So that was the beginning of the problem because practically all of those years the President had full control of the budget. Since the budget was reenacted, everything became huge lump sums all over the place and that created a lot of opportunity for corruption. And you can talk to every department in this country and they have stories about how loosely money was used by the previous government,” Abad said.
Abad said the President’s instruction was for them not to be bogged down by a lot of these details and “let’s focus on those guys responsible for it.”
Abad said administration officials do not want to go to the media right away because they would want to “build cases as airtight as possible so when we file cases these cases will be won by the government.”
He said one of the legacies of the past administration was a more entrenched culture of political patronage.
“What happens when you have that embedded deeply in your bureaucracy, corruption becomes systemic from the highest to the lowest. The problem is the ones who eventually sign the documents and get exposed are the small guys. The smart guys don’t get hit… And that’s why you want to get to the root of the problem and get to the principal,” Abad said.
Meanwhile, businessman Joey de Venecia said the plunder cases filed by different persons and groups against Arroyo and the members of her family are a test of Aquino’s resolve to fight graft and corruption.
De Venecia, one of those who claimed that former first gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo told him to back off from the national broadband network (NBN) contract between the government and ZTE Corp. of China in 2008, said the Arroyo family should pay for the injustices that they committed against the Filipino people.
De Venecia commended Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Teddy Casiño, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan member Carol Araullo and former Gabriela party-list congresswoman Liza Maza for filing the plunder charges against the Arroyos.
“This will be a test of this administration’s commitment to justice for the Filipino people. P-Noy won on the promise that he would bring justice to the Filipino people and put those who really plundered the government coffers behind bars. The outcome of this plunder case will show if P-Noy can indeed deliver on that commitment,” De Venecia said.
He also stressed the importance of a speedy disposition of the cases.
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By: Aurea Calica with Jose Rodel Clapano, AP
Source: The Philippine Star, Sept. 14, 2011
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