Press Release
December 15, 2008

Gordon urges gov't to conduct performance review of anti-corruption agencies

Independent Senator Richard J. Gordon today called on the Arroyo administration to conduct an immediate performance review among government agencies mandated to fight corruption as the country continues to receive negative assessment on the matter.

Gordon made the call after the Philippines has continually fared poorly in the US Millennium Challenge Corp.'s (MCC) scorecard on control of corruption, respect for civil liberties and the rule of law, political and economic freedom, education and health.

"The move of the MCC to put on hold the economic assistance to our country is a serious indication that we are not doing well in our fight against corrupt and dishonest public service," he said.

"I strongly suggest the government conduct a performance review of its agencies that are mandated to fight corruption. That way we could see who are performing their tasks and assess what needs to be done to improve our anti-corruption efforts," he added.

Gordon, chairman of the Senate committee on accountability of public officers and investigations (blue ribbon), specifically took exception to the MCC observation about the continuing decline in the country's "control of corruption" scorecard.

The MCC's assessment showed that from a 76 percent grade for "control of corruption" in fiscal year 2007, it declined to 57 percent in FY2008, and fell to 47 percent in FY2009. This prompted the agency to put on hold its economic aid to the country.

The Philippines was also far from the passing grade in health expenditures (19 percent) and primary education (32 percent) in the MCC FY2009 report.

Control of corruption, public expenditure on primary education and health, are part of the 17 indicators that the MCC assesses to determine if a country meets the criteria for receiving aid.

In 2006, the Philippines was selected to join the MCC's threshold program and was given $21 million to help fight corruption. The country could have been eligible for large-scale grants had it not fail in the control of corruption scorecard.

"This serves as a warning, or even a wake-up call, that we must double our efforts to curb corruption. We cannot eliminate corruption overnight, but we can gradually eradicate it if we are really doing something about it," Gordon said.

In line with his efforts to curb corruption, Gordon authored Senate Bill 2634, which aims to enhance accountability and transparency in public office by requiring transparency of information in expropriation proceedings for government projects.

The senator also introduced Senate Bill 2402, the Health and Education Acceleration Program, which intends to pour in additional investments designed to rehabilitate and improve the country's health care and educational systems.

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