During his second State of the Nation Address, President Benigno Aquino III announced that retired Supreme Court Justice Conchita Carpio-Morales was to be the new Ombudsman of the Philippines.

The President placed high expectations on her new leadership after former Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez failed to tackle several high-profile cases. "Inaasahan ko nga po na sa taong ito masasampahan na ng kaso ang lahat ng nagkuntsabahan sa katiwalian at naging sanhi ng sitwasyong ating inabutan (I expect this year that cases would be filed against those who conspired to commit corruption and which caused the situation left to us),” President Aquino said in his speech.

The President added that under the new leadership, erring public officials would be prosecuted. "Kapag tayo ang nagsampa, matibay ang ebidensya, malinaw ang testimonya at siguradong walang lusot ang salarin (If we file cases, evidence is strong, testimonies are clear and culprits surely have no way out).”

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.

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.