A public-spirited citizen from Samar has just sent us in a series of photos and a complaint that government officials there appear to be in clear breach of a circular from the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) banning the use of “names or initials and/or images or pictures of government officials in billboards and signages of government programs and projects.”

The Philippine Public Transparency Reporting Project (PPTRP) held its 6th training on advanced transparency and anti-corruption reporting called “Numeracy for Journalists, Civil Society Organizations and Citizens” on May 23 at the Top Plaza Hotel in Dipolog City.

Rodolfo “Jun” Lozada, the former CEO of the Philippine Forest Corporation who later disclosed explosive information on the anomalous USD 329 million NBN-ZTE deal that nearly brought down the presidency of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, shared his views May 9 with the Philippine Public Transparency Reporting Project on continuing the fight against corruption and for genuine transparency under the new administration.

Lozada and his family has been living under the protection of anti-corruption advocates and religious groups since he escaped an alleged attempt to kidnap and harm him shortly before he was scheduled to appear in the Senate probe on the telecommunication deal in February 2008. Public outcry and media monitoring were said to have helped abort the alleged plan to silence him.

PUERTO PRINCESA CITY -- The targeting of investigative reporters in Palawan has effectively silenced campaigning journalism in the region and is a danger for democracy according the sister of slain media activist Fernando “Dong” Batul.

As a result of the killings, Letty Batul says, campaigning journalists have fled the province.

“Many of them have gone already,” she told the Philippine Public Transparency Reporting Project (PPTRP) in an interview conducted shortly before the Department of Justice this week dropped the case against former Palawan governor Joel Reyes and five others who were the prime suspects in the January killing of Gerry Ortega citing lack of evidence.

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.

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.

Ex-Navy Lt. Senior Grade Mary Nancy Gadian, deputy chief of Civil Military Operations in the 2007 RP-US Balikatan (shoulder-to-shoulder) exercises recalls her stint in the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) with a tinge of sadness because, she says, the institution she served for more than a decade did not live up to the expectations she had as a child.

"Even when I was a kid, my ambition was to be a soldier. My idea then of the military service was that of a highly-respected, role model organization. My years in active service proved me wrong," Gadian said as the financial mess rocking the AFP continues to boil.

Gadian, who gave an exclusive interview to the Philippine Public Transparency Reporting Project (PPTRP) this week from a safe house, had a varied and interesting stint in the military: As well as serving in the Navy she was both Deputy Operations Officer and Chief of the Operations Center of the Civil Relations Service (CRS) at the AFP’s headquarters in Camp Aguinaldo in 2001. She also spent time as Acting Chief of the Special Operations Group of the CRS.

A former junior military officer who blew the whistle about the alleged corruption scandal on the joint RP-US Balikatan (shoulder-to-shoulder) exercises four years ago has not gone into oblivion, showing up recently in a fighting mode as the controversial fund mess rocking the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) goes on gripping the nation's attention.

Ex-Navy Lt. Senior Grade Nancy Mary Gadian is ready to surface to substantiate the corrupt practices ingrained in the AFP system, now the subject of congressional investigations in aid of legislation midway climaxed by the suicide of former AFP chief of staff General Angelo Reyes.

In hiding for security reasons, Gadian praised former AFP budget officer Lt. Col. George Rabusa for spilling the beans on the bienvenida and despedida monies for AFP chiefs of staff, detailing how funds were misused that were eventually validated by former state auditor Heidi Mendoza.