New PAGC executive named

MANILA, Philippines – President Arroyo has designated the deputy executive secretary as a new member of the Presidential Anti-Graft Commission (PAGC) amid allegations of nepotism and corruption against the agency’s head.

Also appointed were Alfredo Ramon Herrera and Jimmy Yaokasin as board members of the Credit Information Corp., and Frank Rivera as executive director of the National Council for Children’s Television.

Mrs. Arroyo issued Executive Order 842 on Oct. 30 where she pointed out that the Office of the Deputy Executive Secretary was primarily tasked, among others, to head the Complaints and Investigation Unit of the Internal Affairs and Complaints Committee in the Office of the President.

The post is currently held by Deputy Executive Secretary Natividad Dizon.

“There is a need to streamline the legal processes involving PAGC and the Legal Office in the Office of the President to ensure efficient, timely and coordinated action on administrative cases filed,” Mrs. Arroyo said.

“There is a need to further strengthen the investigation and adjudication of complaints of graft and corruption within the bureaucracy,” she stated in the EO.

She noted the PAGC “has been strengthened several times to demonstrate the government’s firm resolve to intensify its anti-corruption efforts.”

It was not clear whether the EO was triggered by reports that PAGC chair Constancia de Guzman has been appointing relatives and had tapped high-paying consultants.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said in a telephone interview last week that the Palace would also look into the allegations of nepotism and corruption against De Guzman.

He said he is awaiting a formal report on the matter.

STAR columnist Jarius Bondoc in his second article on the matter reported that De Guzman has appointed her son and his fiancee to top posts in her agency.

The unnamed fiancee, he said, revised PAGC rules so that she can hire her sister to the agency.

Bondoc also said De Guzman’s children bring their pet dogs to the office and are attended to by the agency’s guards.

“The Constitution states: ‘Public officials and employees must at all times be accountable to the people, serve them with utmost responsibility, integrity, loyalty and efficiency, act with patriotism and justice, and lead modest lives.’ Supposedly among the provision’s lead enforcers is the PAGC. But the elite Malacañang unit, in charge of keeping presidential appointees on the straight and narrow, can’t do its job. That’s because the boss and her minions treat it like it’s their private kingdom,” Bondoc wrote his column that appeared on Friday.