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.

Sadly the Supreme Court ruling on the legality of the Truth Commission comes as no surprise.

We put ‘sadly’ not for the reasons that some might think – that many claim the Court to be biased against the Aquino government. It is ‘sad’ because it was perfectly clear back in May that any attempt to set up a commission which would only look at the alleged misdeeds of the Arroyo administration was a very poorly judged one. It suggested the move was much more about politics than it was about addressing the root of the problem of corruption in the Philippines.

“We are beginning to learn who works where, what departments spend and who are the big business recipients of taxpayers’ money,” journalists from the UK Guardian wrote last Friday in response to the latest release of financial details by the British Government.

The 14th International Anti-Corruption Conference held in Thailand last week was interesting for several reasons. Firstly, it was the first such international gathering of corruption experts we had ever attended. Secondly, it was truly international with more than 1000 delegates from more than 100 countries and a multitude of sessions. Thirdly it took a comprehensive and inclusive approach covering everything from state capture and corruption through to corruption and climate change. Fourthly it was extremely useful to listen to and learn about what other people and organizations are doing around the world - and fifthly it was interesting to put what we were doing alongside others around the world.

Money was not a problem during the past administration for the only government-owned and controlled corporation (GOCC) to oversee legalized gambling in the country – nor it seems was accountability: There just wasn’t any.

The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) operates 13 casinos and several VIP slot clubs in major cities around the country. It also exercises regulatory powers on more than 180 bingo parlors and e-games cafes nationwide.

It is among the largest contributors of revenue after the Tax Authority. PAGCOR was created in 1977 through Presidential Decree 1067-A.

The allegations that surfaced during the Congressional inquiries into corruption at senior levels of the Armed Forces of the Philippines were stark and telling -- and many.   The revelations that included serial house-buying overseas, globe-trotting wives and missing UN peacekeeping funds left many observers wondering and asking: How were all these allowed to happen? Where were the stringent checks and controls that ensured public money was only ever used for the public good?

Public employees in Samar concerned over a systemic and continuing failure to account for local government spending in their own and other departments are linking up with civil society, church, media groups and other citizens to organize and push transparency and accountability. The Philippine Public Transparency Reporting Project met and began working with them on May 26.

Representatives of Kidapawan media and civil society organizations met with the Philippine Public Transparency Reporting Project (PPTRP) staff in North Cotabato on May 24 as one of four pilot project areas to discuss how local communities can push for greater transparency and accountability in local government finances.

It is the kind of place that Franz Kafka mighty have imagined when writing The Trial. Perhaps the place painter Eduard Munch imagined his character was running away from in The Scream.

Close by the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) complex on Roxas Boulevard in Manila sits the giant hulk of a building that is the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS). To get there you have to ride and pay for the orange CCP shuttle which stops outside the GSIS compound and then walk some 100 meters under the heat of the sun to the main entrance and flights of escalators.