Ombudsman – Workshop Updates

“One Visayas against Corruption”

A report submitted to The Law of Nature
Foundation Inc., Manila, Philippines (Unpublished)
_______________________________________________
By: Ceasar M. Morandarte
June 2010
The highlights of the “One Visayas against Corruption” workshop held and spearhe
aded by the Office of the Ombudsman Visayas, M. Velez St., Cebu City, Philippine
s, June 25, 2010 are enumerated as follows:
1) Paralegal Training. The “One Visayas against Corruption” were organiz
e from a group of various NGOs and POs operating in the Visayas region duly accr
edited by the Office of the Ombudsman (OMB) that are called for a greater cause
to help the OMB in fighting graft and corrupt practices of a small number of gov
ernment officials and employees. These accredited NGOs and POs are identified as
the Corruption Prevention Unit (CPU) of the OMB and stand united to support the
OMB’s vision and mission.
Through the Federation of CPUs in the Visayas, a marathon paralegal training wil
l be undertaken among its CPUs within this year (2010) to initially equip them (
CPU), not with arms and ammunitions but the needed knowledge (preparation of doc
uments, affidavits, evidences) and information (salient provisions of the law) o
n how to combat and help the implementation of “Anti Graft and Corrupt Practices
Act” (RA 3019) and the “Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards of Public Officia
ls and Employees” (RA 6713).
2) Grievance Action Center. The OMB shall remind all LGUs, Government Of
fices and Agencies to activate grievance action center (GAC) in their respective
area of jurisdiction. The GAC shall accept and accommodate partial and informal
redress of grievances among fellow employees at the same time complaints coming
from the public.
3) Fast tracking of Cases. The CPUs shall assist the OMB in the fast tracking of
cases
which are now logged behind in the archives related to graft and corruption case
s by way of providing vital information so that the OMB can move forward and uph
old the concept of fast and speedy trial of cases: “Justice delayed Justice deni
ed.”
4) Bidding and Awarding of Government Projects. The OMB will recommend to the LG
US, offices and agencies the duly accredited CPU in their area of jurisdiction w
hich will serve as mere observers during the BAC bidding process. This is geared
towards maintaining transparency in any government project transactions includi
ng prompt delivery, quantity, and quality of all materials and articles as speci
fied in the terms and conditions and time frame of bidding documents to avoid gh
ost projects. The CPU shall not receive any presents or financial indulgence in
order to insulate them from the fold of influencing their reports to the OMB.
5) Re-orientation of RA 3019 & RA 6713. It is highly recommended by the
Federation of “One Visayas against Corruption” that all officers and employees o
f different government offices, agencies and LGUs shall be re-oriented about “An
ti Graft and Corrupt Practices Act” (RA 3019) and the “Code of Conduct and Ethic
al Standards of Public Officials and Employees” (RA 6713) to remind them of thei
r duties and responsibilities considering that the salaries they received are li
fe and blood coming from the taxes of the Filipino people.
Major topics to be discussed are the following:
5.1 Employee discipline;
5.2 Norms of Conduct (Commitment to Public Interest, Professionalism, Justness a
nd
Sincerity, Political Neutrality, Responsiveness to the Public, Nationalism
and Patriotism, Commitment to Democracy);
5.3 Policies on Administrative Offenses (Attendance and Punctuality, Nepotism, S
exual harassments and immorality.
6) Monitoring & Evaluation. All these proposed activities (above-mentioned) whic
h are work in partnership with the Federation for “One Visayas against Corruptio
n” and to be approved by the OMB shall undergo monitoring and evaluation (M&E) p
rocess after an initial implementation of one year. In the succeeding years thos
e compliant LGUs, Government Offices, Agencies and employees together with their
respective CPUs shall be awarded and their offices will be tagged as Corrupt-fr
ee Government Institution.
Being an accredited CPU, I suggest that we will incorporate some of our
(LNF-initiated projects) initiatives especially the Environmental Compliance Aud
it (ECA) framework in line with these activities (OMB Proposed Workplan) and we
will submit this to:
• The Office of the President (Aquino Administration on July 1, 2010) in r
elation to his election slogan “Pag Walang Corrupt, Walang Mahirap;”
• The Office of the Ombudsman (Hon. M. Guttierrez); and
• The Supreme Court for their notification and record purposes.