“The citizen can bring our political and governmental institutions back to life, make them responsive and accountable, and keep them honest. No one else can.”
John W. Gardner, US Secretary of Health and Education, 1965-68 |
Prof. Boncodin, in one of the forums she had appeared in to help people understand the the national budget and what people could do to protect it from corruption and wastage.
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The Philippine Public Transparency Reporting Project and the Pera Natin ‘To! website are made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents of this website and the views expressed herein are solely the responsibility of the Philippine Public Transparency Reporting Project and the individual authors, and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government or the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative.
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Truth Telling as We Remember the Lessons from EDSA |
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Monday, 21 February 2011 |
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Former state auditor Heidi Mendoza’s message to the public at the Valentine’s Day forum where she was key speaker was very timely given we are just days away from marking the 25th anniversary of the EDSA Revolution that toppled the Marcos dictatorship and ushered in democracy.
“There should be no love greater than your country and God.”
“If we just only cling on this and tell the truth, kaya nating mamuhay nang dakila (then we are capable to live a life with integrity),” Mendoza said before a jampacked hall at the Club Filipino in San Juan, Manila.
“The key is persistence and vigilance…I am a public servant and the public deserves nothing less,” said Mendoza, who has served the Commission on Audit for more than 20 years.
Everyone – including this writer – agreed that the reason why we’re again in this state, where stories of grand anomalies and cover-ups by the supposed protectors of the people are coming out only now is because we forgot the real lesson of EDSA – that is telling the truth and upholding it no matter what.
Eric Alvia of the National Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) captured it well when he told the forum: “We dropped the ball in EDSA. We failed to put lessons in place. That is why up until now we are still continuing to search for the truth.”
But Mendoza today symbolizes the possibility of opening a new season of truth telling and whistle blowing –which we hope will last and bring real change. There is of course, former Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) budget officer George Rabusa who exposed the send-off gifts to the generals. And at the forum, a dismissed director of the Department of Health started disclosing an alleged anomalous transaction where she became the fall guy.
Mendoza has lost her job, put her family at risk and strained some friendships in her quest to tell the truth. Yet she continues to show the public that truth telling at all costs is the right path: “We are in a vortex of forces, but there is hope because hope is born in each and every act that upholds the truth.”
It is about time.
Rorie R. Fajardo
Project Manager Philippine Public Transparency Reporting Project
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