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Graft and Corruption

Three years ago, the Philippines was the most corrupt Asian country. Find out what candidates have to say on the issue and how they plan to fight graft and corruption.

Richard Gordon

Bagumbayan

I want to stress to people how corruption has corrosive effects on our ability to attract investments. Worse, it has degenerated to the point where corruption kills, as you have seen with the military weapons falling into the hands of the Ampatuans, and our ineffective governance that allows non-seaworthy ships to sail and thus perish even under calm weather. As we have done in Olongapo, Subic and the Tourism Department, we will personally make sure that the law is properly followed.
Let me point out one thing. When we started experiencing corruption in Subic after I left, smuggling prospered, investments went down. All we attracted as investors were the minnows. But the moment we removed corruption, we attracted Hanjin, and much more foreign investment.
We have a number of suggestions as to how to fight corruption:
1. We believe that the Ombudsman should not be an appointed position, but it should be an elective position.
2. We want to focus on declogging the courts, particularly the Sandigan Bayan. We may pilot a jury program that would ensure the faster handling of court cases.
3. We will not pardon a single government official convicted of corruption.
4. We will re-invent the bureaucracy by providing clear guidelines and levels of accountability for each government official.
5. We will streamline and automate key functions to limit official discretion and potential avenues of corruption.
6. We will make tax payments simpler and re-establish the BIR as the National Revenue Authority, with a high payscale to attract young, idealistic individuals into a career for helping national development through the collection of government revenue.
7. We will ensure strict law enforcement, by improving on the urban landscape – street lighting, uniformed bus drivers and vendors – to make crime-fighting easier, set up People’s Law Enforcement Boards and creating a national 161 hotline, similar to 911 in the US, for citizen’s to call for emergencies.

4.5 / 5  (17 votes)