GMA accepts resignation of chief graft buster

Graft-busting is too much for him.

President Arroyo accepted yesterday the irrevocable resignation of her chief graft buster, Eufemio Domingo, who said he could no longer perform his "high-tension" job.

Presidential Spokesman Rigoberto Tiglao said Domingo handed in his resignation last Wednesday as head of the Presidential Commission Against Graft and Corruption (PCAGC).

Tiglao revealed that Executive Secretary Alberto Romulo talked with Domingo yesterday to persuade the latter to accept another job at Malacañang, although still related to graft and corruption.

"It (new job offer) would be more to his liking to help Malacañang on advisory capacity, or to undertake final review of graft cases," Tiglao said.

Meanwhile, the Presidential Management Staff launched yesterday a search for Domingo’s replacement.

Domingo, former chairman of the Commission on Audit, was a holdover of the PCAGC post from the failed Estrada administration.

When Mrs. Arroyo took over the presidency on Jan. 20, she gave the commission specific parameters in going after grafters in the public service.

"This time, the President really wants the PCAGC to focus on certain corruption practices using the Civil Service laws as a weapon to remove corrupt people from the government," Tiglao said.

Mrs. Arroyo has vowed that good governance would be one of the major thrusts of her administration. – Marichu Villanueva