TAGBILARAN CITY -- A fourth citizen-led initiative to help build and ensure public accountability was launched this week with the unveiling of a new group in Western Visayas called Bohol Transparency Network for Transformation (Bohol TNT).

The launch here on June 15 brought together local media, civil society, church groups, peoples’ organizations and business leaders from across the province – as well as senior local members of the Philippine National Police and officials from the regional office of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG). Public declarations of support from representatives of all sectors present included a goodwill message from Bohol Governor Edgar Chatto delivered by Provincial Administrator Alfonso Damalerio II.

KIDAPAWAN CITY -- Nineteen employees of one of the poorest towns in the province of North Cotabato are being investigated for allegedly spending public funds and wasting official time on a tourist trip to Thailand.

Members of the local legislative council in the municipality of Magpet have threatened to file criminal and administrative cases against the local government employees who appear to have gone on a four-day trip to Thailand from March 9 to March 12, 2011.

The trip came to light after it was found out that on the same dates, at least some of the employees who are members of the municipality’s Bids and Awards Committee (BAC), were supposed to be on official government business in Metro Manila.

Corruption has absolutely nothing to do with culture and everything to do with political and personal will.

Those who point to traditions and history are simply making the poorest of excuses and are in basic denial by simply refusing to accept personal and collective responsibility for the state they are in.

So says one of the world’s leading anti-corruption experts -- Tony Kwok, who spoke at a public forum on Friday at Ateneo de Manila University in Quezon City. As proof, the former Deputy Head of the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) in Hong Kong pointed to the overarching Chinese culture and Confucian traditions in his home town which transformed itself from being one of the most corrupt societies to one of the cleanest.

The nation has witnessed many controversies over public funds purportedly amassed by government officials over the past few years.  Congressional and Senate investigations are held, Blue Ribbon Committee Hearings convened and much publicity is generated --and temporary media feeding frenzy ensured.

Yet at the end of the day, such investigations are non-judicial in nature and resolve little. Impeachment cases aside where Congress sits as a court, most investigations and hearings can only aid or inform possible future legislation. While they may provide a venue for a public venting of frustration, they ultimately serve only to leave the general public wondering what the ultimate purpose and lasting effect was.

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?

In something of a test case, the recently-launched citizen’s action group Multisectoral Alliance for Transparency and Accountability (MATA-Samar) and the Corruption Prevention Unit-Samar have filed joint charges against officials and employees of the province of Samar for non-compliance with laws and circulars governing the disclosure of financial transactions and banning of billboards with names and pictures of politicians on public projects and programs.

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Photos by Keith Bacongco, Leanne Jazul, Bobby Labalan, Ruby Thursday More,
Sandino Nartea, Emy Bonifacio, and Angelica Carballo

Erring Billboards, Waiting Sheds, Ambulances and Other Public Structures: A Continuing Source of Shame for Politicians Whose Names and Faces Appear on Them

Six months after the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) issued its Memorandum Circular 2010-101 banning the use of names, initials and photographs of government officials on public projects – and one year after the Philippine Public Transparency Reporting Project (PPTRP) launched its website and the campaign against this practice, we asked photojournalists around the country to watch out for, take and send in photos to help name and shame those who have abused their elected position for private gain.

Many of the billboards, waiting sheds, vehicles and bridges seen here may predate the memorandum – yet PPTRP believes officials who still have their name or likeness on public property have a clear moral obligation to change them accordingly -- and at their own expense.

The history and experience of most nations show that no matter a country’s level of development, while there is government, there will always be some degree and variation of corruption, with officials using public office for private gain. In the Philippines, in particular, the country's underdevelopment is largely attributed to a failure to institute good governance. We have traditionally had a weak state apparatus which has prevented our country from providing an enabling environment to improve living conditions for ordinary people.