More budget for Ombuds can help fight corruption

CEBU, Philippines - Liberal Party senatorial candidate Alexander Lacson today said the goal to reduce to zero level the widespread corruption in government is possible, but the same would require full mobilization of the public and private sectors and the deployment of what he describes as “critical mass of supporters” to enforce the anti-corruption laws.

“More than anything else, a different, albeit special, kind of political will be necessary to drive the government of corrupt elements. A new leadership that is bereft of any accusation of corruption will be needed,” Lacson said.

Lacson is the author of the book “12 Little Things Every Filipino Can Do to Help Our Country.”

During a gathering with supporters in Manila, Lacson said part of his corruption agenda is to raise the budget of the Office of the Ombudsman by at least one percent of the total annual national budget; to enact a law protecting whistleblowers; to empower the private sector to go after corrupt public officials; to develop a mass culture that rejects corruption as a way of life; and to create an anti-corruption army, which represents a critical mass of ordinary citizens who would run after corrupt public officials.

Lacson said he is basing his anti-corruption agenda on complete public-private sectors cooperation, stressing that it requires the full involvement of the private sector, which includes the church, civil society, business community, the academe, and even the youth and young professionals, who have bigger stake in the nation’s future.

“What we should have upon the ascendancy of a new leadership after the May 10 elections is the launching of a new social movement that would reject corruption as a way of life and usher a new mass culture that highlights integrity in public service,” Lacson said.

He said mobilization and participation of the community, especially the youth, is crucial to bring corruption to zero level by 2015.

While saying that the country has become notorious for being one of the most corrupt nations in Asia and the incumbent president as the most corrupt in Philippine political history, Lacson stressed it has to develop the political will to confront and tackle corruption, but warned it cannot leave the anticorruption agenda to the government alone since it neither has the wherewithal, the political will, nor new ideas to handle corruption.

Lacson said any anticorruption agenda, initially, should start by raising the budget of the Office of the Ombudsman, which, at 0.7 percent or less of the national budget, is insufficient.

He said the current budget indicates nothing but the government’s “lukewarm policy” towards the raiders of the national coffers.

In contrast, the government loses at least 20 percent of the national budget to corruption, Lacson said, adding that, as the constitutional body that runs after corrupt officials and their minions, the Office of the Ombudsman could hardly build up cases and prosecute them. Its batting average of winning only seven percent or less of all charges that it has filed in court is hardly satisfying by any standard, Lacson said.

An increase to at least one percent of the national budget would signal the serious policy shift to combat corruption, Lacson said.

He explained that the Office of the Ombudsman has hardly run after any other big fish, making corruption a high yield, but low risk activity in the country, Lacson said.

Hence, corruption has become endemic, taking roots in the nation’s social, economic, and political fabric, Lacson said as he pointed to opinion polls that showed that most Filipinos have learned to accept corruption as a way of life. — /JMO   (FREEMAN NEWS)