Anti-corrupt group renews support for Desierto

An anti-corruption watchdog with over one million members nationwide reiterated yesterday its support for Ombudsman Aniano Desierto whose integrity, it said, was unassailable.

Officials of National Association of Corruption Prevention Units (NACPU) said that their group decided to support Desierto after they noted that he was being subjected to "excessive and unfounded attacks" by some groups.

They mentioned in particular an impeachment complaint filed by a lawyer against Desierto before the House of Representatives.

In a strongly worded statement, NACPU assailed the Ombudsman’s accusers and branded as "part of the destabilization efforts by some groups who are out to undermine the stability of the country the complaint of lawyer Ernesto Francisco against Desierto."

"We, the Council of Leaders of NACPU, strongly denounce and condemn the people behind these destabilization moves and we are giving our all out support and confidence to Ombudsman Desierto," the statement said.

Among NACPU’s national leaders who signed the document were Bishop Juan Pring, president of Lingkod; Pastor Voltaire Acosta, president of CRFV; Esperanza Ocampo, president of Philippine Government Employees Association; Willy Calma, president of Bantay Bayan Foundation; and Victorino Rosales, president of Anti-Fake Land Titles, and leaders of various people’s organizations.

The group bared that it will mobilize its more than one million members and hold a series of mass actions nationwide to dramatize their support for Desierto.

The series of activities is also aimed at calling the attention of the lawmakers, especially the members of the House committee on justice, and warn them not to allow themselves to be swayed by Francisco’s "malicious and fabricated allegations."

The group also likened Francisco "to a gun-for-hire dressed in a lawyer’s suit."

"Obviously, he allowed himself to be used by some groups who have embarked on a hate campaign against government officials in their bid to create an atmosphere of instability," the document said.

"Francisco did not come to the House with clean hands, we have obtained documents which will show that he is facing a disbarment complaint before the Supreme Court obviously for engaging in a practice that might have violated the ethics of his profession," the same paper pointed out.

NACPU is the umbrella organization of all Corruption Prevention Units and Junior Graftwatch Units composed of more than 1,300 non-government organizations nationwide, representing the religious, students, people’s organizations, civic, urban poor and community based groups.

It was formed to combat corruption in all levels of the government.

NACPU’s different units nationwide are credited for providing the Office of the Ombudsman all the information and assistance in prosecuting numerous high profile graft and corruption cases involving influential local and national government officials.

The same document said that "we are living in perilous times" and that some groups are engaged in a massive and orchestrated efforts aimed at destroying the integrity of the national leadership.

Pring has urged all those who love truth and justice to join hands so that "together we can help bring the nation towards the road to international respectability and recognition and we can only attain these if we can prove to the world that we are living in a peaceful and prosperous society with a justice system that applies evenly both to the rich and to the poor."

Acosta added that "only when we speak the truth can we expect the real essence of democracy to work for us."