Speeches and signs: President Noynoy faces huge public expectation on his second SONA on July 25, among which is a firmer message and plan towards better transparency and accountability in government. JES AZNAR (www.jesaznar.com)

Without question, carrying the desires and expectations of a nation upon one’s shoulders is a huge burden and the challenge of combating corruption a Herculean task. Cynics might even claim it Sisyphean after the Corinthian king set the unavailing task of pushing an immense rock up a mountain for all eternity.

Yet whereas Hercules and Sisyphus labored alone, President Noynoy Aquino can call on a small army of secretaries, civil servants and advisers to help him. How useful they are in his quest of course depends partly on the level of leadership and quality of instructions given.  Finally, whereas the tasks set on Hercules and Sisyphus were purely physical, President Aquino has the harder challenge and is faced with changing traditions and patterns of behavior that are deeply rooted: For sure too, there are powerful vested interests which are working – perhaps even conspiring–  to hinder attempts to build a more transparent and accountable public sector.

"Your honors": Members of the Sangguniang Panglunsod discuss the whereabouts of millions of pesos channeled from national government agencies to the Kidapawan city government from 2008 to 2009. CARLO AGAMON

KIDAPAWAN CITY – People here are beginning to question exactly how the city government actually spent an estimated PhP 77 million (USD 1.83 million) which different government agencies reportedly channeled to the city.

According to Kidapawan City Councilor Lauro Taynan Jr., the sum was reportedly transferred to the city government coffers between 2008 and 2009.

Speaking at a recent meeting of the Sangguniang Panglunsod (SP or City Council), councilor Tayman said the city’s chief executive and some departmental heads who would have had a direct hand in the planning and implementation of different nationally funded infrastructure projects, should be made to appear before the SP and say how the money was actually spent.

Nothing to hide? The Cagayan de Oro Water District is now under public scrutiny for alleged excesses of its board directors, including hefty honorariums. Courtesy of http://bit.ly/na938w

The proposed 30 percent water rate increase—pending at the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA)—proposed by the Cagayan de Oro Water District (COWD) on June 1, 2011 has revived calls to turn the facility into a cooperative.

“We will fight this increase. We will be forced to intervene since water is a very basic service. I’m not against turning the water district into a cooperative,” said city councilor Alden Bacal -- present chair of the committee on public utilities -- while past committee chair Ian Mark Nacaya said discussion on the proposal to turn the COWD into a consumers’ cooperative should be made and studied again in view of the planned increase in water rates.

The pronouncements came after Roman Catholic Archbishop Antonio Ledesma and his group Bishop-Businessmen's Conference (BBC) asked the Commission on Audit (COA) for copies of its reports on the COWD's finances from 2007 to 2010. The group wants to examine the finances of the facility and its management.

Important port: The Ombudsman reportedly found early this year "compelling evidence" of corruption among customs officials at the Port of Davao, but has not put any news about this yet. KEITH BACONGCO

DAVAO CITY -- Tany, a resident of Barangay Tibungco, has spent the past 17 years working as a porter at Sasa Wharf - one of the country’s top-earning sea ports that is the main gateway for traffic in and out of Southern Mindanao. Despite this, Tany (not his real name) says he barely manages to earn enough to put food on the table for his family.

The Philippine Public Transparency Reporting Project (PPTRP) watched as Tany, weathering stiff competition from his colleagues, finally managed to pocket a PhP 100 (about USD 2) payment for carrying two bags for a Super Ferry passenger heading to Zamboanga City. “Now I can buy rice,” the 48-year old stocky worker says.

Slashed cash? Beneficiaries of the government's conditional cash transfer program in Tungawan, Zamboanga Sibugay wait for their turn to receive cash. Some however said certain amounts were cut from their grant for unknown reasons. ANTONIO MANAYTAY

TUNGAWAN, Zamboanga Sibugay -- For Marvelyn Bosque, the cash grant she receives as beneficiary of the government’s Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) Program is a big help for them in sending their children to school.

The 47-year-old mother of three, whose husband is a seasonal farm worker in Barangay Baluran told the Philippine Public Transparency Reporting Project (PPTRP) that the money has “done so much for our children’s needs in school.”

“Dili lang para sa akong pamilya pero kanamong tanan sa kumunidad makita gyud nga ganahan mo na mo-eskwela ang mga bata (Not only for my family but the whole community as well our children have shown greater interest to go to school),” she says.

Tax mess: The local government in Calbayog City owes the national government PhP 56 million because of the failure of its previous leaders to remit collections from employees to BIR for three years. Courtesy of www.lawphil.net

CALBAYOG CITY -- Just as people here continue to ask who was behind the killing of Mayor Reynaldo Uy two months ago, so they are still wondering how it is that the city treasury effectively owes PhP 56 million (USD 1.3 million) to the national government after failing to remit tax revenues from 2007 to 2010.

But it seems discrepancies in remitting claimed taxes appear to date back even further.

The collection scandal has reportedly been an open secret among many of the 1,000 plus employees of the local government unit here who maintain deductions payable and due to the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) and the likes of the Pag-Ibig Fund were neither properly collected nor passed on.

Deterrent to corruption: Adocates say that public access to government records would make officials and employees extra careful in the performance of their duties. JES AZNAR (www.jesaznar.com)

We have had a Right to Information bill languishing in the legislative mill now for more than a decade; we have a new president vociferous in his claims that his administration stands for greater transparency and accountability – and yet it is Mongolia not the Philippines that last month joined the ever-growing list of countries to have passed such a law.

Whichever way we try and gloss over it, a government that does not prioritize such an act cannot in all honesty be seen as being fully committed to the cause of transparency and accountability.

Excuses for delay can always found by those seeking them.

'Water boy' Prospero Pichay: The first agency head to be dismissed for alleged corruption under the new administration. Photo courtesy of www. texaninthephilippines.com

When former Congressman and ‘showman’ Prospero Pichay Jr. accepted the chairmanship of the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA) a year after losing badly in the 2007 national elections, people thought that this was an extremely small consolation prize from then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. It was a very low-profile position for one who had risen so far and hitherto enjoyed high profile positions with the blessing of his boss.

Pichay had at first refused to be appointed to the LWUA board on August 28, 2008. Yet just one week later he changed his mind and proudly announced how he had accepted his appointment “as the government’s water boy for LWUA board membership with a nomination to be elected as chairman.” 

On his defeat, Pichay had first been offered the post as administrator of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA). But organizations of migrant workers and recruitment agencies vigorously opposed this plan. 

Going to the LWUA appeared a major step back for him given Pichay had been the representative of Surigao del Sur’s first district for nine years (1998-2007). While there, he had been chair of the House Committee on National Defense (2001-2004), before subsequently heading up the House contingent to the Commission on Appointments (2004-2007).

The Pera ng Bayan website: venue where citizens can take part in helping put an end to corruption.

Launched last August in a fanfare of publicity as part of the new administration’s campaign to combat corruption, the crowd-sourcing Pera ng Bayan (Money of the People) website set up by the Department of Finance (DOF) generated an initial and immediate flood of reports filed by concerned citizens.

The initiative was largely billed at the time by the media as a vehicle designed to help reduce corruption in government departments -- specifically erring public officials from the DOF and its affiliated agencies, the Bureau of Customs (BOC) and the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).

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Corruption-free? DepEd officials in Taguig City deny any irregularities in the bidding processes for school building projects, but it is not known yet whether somebody from the DepEd Central Office is looking deeper into it. JES AZNAR (www.jesaznar.com)

Claims that some senior officials at the Department of Education (DepEd) in Taguig City have been conspiring to defraud the public purse by fixing bidding contracts for new school buildings are being flatly denied by top officials there who say their colleague who complained of corruption is actually the one guilty of extorting “huge” sums of money from contractors while she served secretariat member of the division office’s Bids and Awards Committee (BAC).

In a six-page comment addressed to the DepEd Central Office and dated April 18, the Division Office in Taguig City insisted there were no irregularities in the procurement process. The comment written by Officer-in-Charge (OIC) Superintendent Dr. Meleda Polita maintained that the division’s accuser was actually the one responsible for corruption.

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Money out of school building projects? Bidding for the construction of public school buildings, like this one, is a lucrative source of kickbacks for several DepEd Division officials in Taguig City, alleges an informant. JES AZNAR (www.jesaznar.com)

The Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS), the country’s online procurement portal that is widely touted and cited as a model for other countries to follow, has apparently failed to protect the bidding process from corruption within the Department of Education (DepEd) and other public agencies in Taguig City.

A ‘whistleblower’ and rank-and-file employee of DepEd in Taguig City says that she was part of an illegal consortium that fixed contracts and that the Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) members of the local government’s procurement department, along with several local DepEd officials have been in collusion with favored contractors in the construction of school buildings in exchange for large kickbacks.

On this site will rise: Bohol may finally see its own international airport in this portion of Panglao Island after almost two decades of changing plans and seemingly lost funds. RIC V. OBEDENCIO

PANGLAO, Bohol -- Nearly 20 years after the idea was first proposed, Bohol finally seems set to have its own international airport located on the tourist island of Panglao.

The airport is to be built as part of the government’s Public-Private Partnership (PPP) plan with a public invitation to bid due out in August.

Local political leaders from governors down have long campaigned for a replacement of the small and heavily congested domestic airport located less than a mile from Tagbilaran City on the neighboring island of Bohol. The proposed new airport lies across the causeway and is a 40-minute drive away from the city.