The need to rise from the ashes

One just let it go when coming across a wire news item a fortnight back, that put down the RP as failing in its anti-graft/corruption drive. But then, a repeat of the unflattering newsbit has just resurfaced: "US firm says Ombuds wasted anti-graft funds".

There's that USA corporation - Millennium Challenge Corp. (MCC) - managing its "millennium challenge account" that helps various governments in fighting corruption, by providing millions of funding. And the Philippines as one of the recipients.

Other than the MCC, the Political and Economic Risk Consultancy (PERC) survey has found the RP as Number 1 corrupt country in Asia. Besides, Transparency International (TI) also tags RP in its 2008 perception index at the bottom among 180 countries surveyed.

This negative image against corruption of poor Juan dela Cruz is not just isolated happenstance as in "sulagma" or "nitaghapan lang" - but an accumulative ignominy. With barely passing 76th percentile in 2006, its ranking dived to 57th percentile in 2007, and 47th percentile in 2008. In short, getting worse instead of better, despite MCC's dollar grants in millions.

It's not surprising that in MCC's 2009 report that led to the denial of another tranche of MCC funding, RP not only flunks (47th percentile) in control of corruption, but also in health (19%) and primary education (32%) components.

Other than the millennium challenge account of MCC, the Ombudsman had previously received some 2.9 M euros during the watch of Ombudsman Simeon Marcelo, from the European Union as grant for improving governance to reduce poverty program. Perhaps, in Marcelo's time, the anti-graft watchdog and nemesis of the corrupt, had been true and equal to its tasks as no mention of failure in the fight against corruption.

What's now an eye-popper, is the watch of Merceditas Gutierrez who, if true as bruited about, had allegedly been a bar flunker, unlike Marcelo who passed the BAR as one of the top ten. Moreover, Marcelo had more than acquitted himself from some doubters not only by his commendable expertise as a trial lawyer during Erap's Senate blue ribbon committee probe, but also later as a dedicated and competent Ombudsman.

Sadly, the wire service report is quoted that sources at the Ombudsman revealed that "since Merceditas Gutierrez came into office in Nov. 2005, the funding support had been 'drastically decreased due to incompetence'."

The MCC has slashed its 2009 funding to the Ombudsman for its worsening failure to put a clamp on government corruption. Moreover, instances of graft and corruption that got bannerlines and headlines, and later investigated by the Ombudsman's regional deputies, have languished in the central office for so long without final resolution. For instance, the case of Cebu girls scouts bank account ending up in the account of a then congresswoman, nothing is heard about it.

 Other similar cases are those involving several LGUs granting their entire LGU personnel excessive and illegal allowances, usually at the end of the fiscal year in December. Foremost is that of Pinamungajan some few years back when its municipal council ordained P100T each to all its employees from the top down to the lowest personnel.

And many such excesses, as abuses of cash advances remaining belatedly unliquidated, gross violations of the 55% or 45% limitations on personnel services expenses, and other illegal and excessive disbursements, like overpayments of salaries.

To recap, the Ombudsman and the entire office itself have to rise from the ashes, like the phoenix of mythology. Being a watchdog against graft and corruption isn't just a slogan to flatter fat asses, but a bounden onus to fulfill.

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