‘Conviction rate of public officials now higher’

Twenty-two out of the 55 civil servants convicted by the Sandiganbayan last year for corruption were ranking officials, the government’s chief consultant against corruption said yesterday.

Tony Kwok, former chief of Hong Kong’s Independent Commission Against Corruption, said the conviction rate in corruption cases involving government officials has drastically improved to 40 percent.

The figures, he said, back up his earlier claim that the Philippines was making headway in its fight against corruption.

Kwok said among the 55 civil servants convicted of corruption were a department secretary, governor, chancellor, judge, assistant provincial prosecutor, assistant regional director, city treasurer, register of deeds, city councilor, two regional directors and 11 mayors.

"I did some homework," he said. "Most of them are sentenced to long-term imprisonment."

Kwok said the Office of the Ombudsman had many successes in the last two years, with convictions rising from six percent in 2002 to 13 percent in 2003, then to 24 percent in 2004 and to 40 percent in 2005.

"The number of senior government officers dismissed in 2004 and 2005 outnumbered the total number of dismissals in the preceding 16 years of the operation of the Office of the Ombudsman," he said.

Kwok attributed the success partly to the government’s decision to almost double the Office of the Ombudsman’s budget in the last two years from P480 million to P930 million for 2006.

"This has allowed the Ombudsman to expand its investigation unit by more than 300 percent and double its prosecution unit in two years," he said.

"These are significant achievements comparable most favorably with many other countries."

Kwok appealed to the media to highlight the government’s gains against corruption rather than contribute to negative perceptions of the Philippines.

He has never criticized the media for exposing corruption, which creates a negative image for the country, he added. — Aurea Calica