Two DPWH officials fail ‘lifestyle checks’

Two officials of the Department of Public Works and Highways failed their lifestyle checks.

It was reported last night over ABS-CBN television’s TV Patrol news program that the Presidential Anti-Graft Commission (PAGC) said an undersecretary and assistant secretary of the DPWH failed the lifestyle check.

Both unnamed officials are presidential appointees and are on the list of 12 presidential appointees being investigated by PAGC, the report said.

It was also reported that, while President Arroyo and the PAGC know the identities of these DPWH executives, their names will be withheld while the Office of the Ombudsman is still studying whether or not to suspend them, PAGC Commissioner Teresita Baltazar said, "because the Ombudsman has the power of preventive suspension."
The lifestyle checks conducted by the PAGC are particularly focused on the DPWH, Bureau of Customs (BoC) and the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) — three of the most corrupt government agencies.

PAGC records stated that, from 2002, only 600 cases of corruption were filed against presidential appointees.

Almost 90 percent of the corruption raps filed against these presidential appointees were dismissed.