Angara calls for ratification of UN convention vs corruption

Sen. Edgardo Angara asked the Senate yesterday to ratify the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC).

During a recent forum at the Senate, Angara said the UNCAC allows a state to trace and follow the path of stolen money.

"(The UNCAC) is a notable piece of Convention because for the first time there is international consensus," he said.

Dimitri Vlassis, Crime Convention Section head at the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime based in Austria, said the UNCAC will help the Philippines prevent and combat corruption more effectively and efficiently.

It would foster international cooperation and technical assistance during asset recovery while promoting integrity, accountability and proper management of public affairs and property, he added.

Vlassis urged the Senate committee on foreign affairs to fast track its deliberation on the Convention as the country only has until Nov. 10 to ratify the treaty because a meeting between the signatory states will be held in December.

The UNCAC has 140 signatories, 60 of which have already ratified the convention.

An international treaty on private and public corruption, the UNCAC aims to prevent corruption by establishing anti-corruption bodies and enhance transparency in the financing of election campaigns and political parties.

Since the country signed the treaty in Dec. 9, 2003, the Senate has yet to act on the matter.

The committee on foreign relations chaired by Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago conducted its first public hearing on the UNCAC on June 2, 2005. Since then no further action has been taken.

Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez noted that corruption is found in all countries, but that it is in the developing countries like the Philippines that its effects are most destructive.

She urged Congress to pass several laws such as the mutual legal assistance law, extradition treaty and a bill seeking to amend the Money Laundering Act to be able to adopt the Convention and fully implement it.

Dr. Francisco Magno, Executive Council member of the Transparency and Accountability Network, one of UNCAC’s proponents, said the people would still play a vital role in the fight against corruption as stated in Article 13 of UNCAC preamble.

"Each State Party shall take appropriate measures, within its means and in accordance with fundamental principles of its domestic law, to promote the active participation of individuals and groups outside the public sector, in the prevention of and the fight against corruption and to raise public awareness regarding the existence, causes and gravity of and the threat posed by corruption," read the UNCAC. — Marvin Sy, Kryzzle Gaspay, Raileen Yamco