Press Release
January 16, 2009

ROXAS: GMA BROUGHT SHAME TO RP DUE TO CORRUPTION

President Arroyo brought international shame to the country for her deliberate disregard of the corruption that pervades her administration, Liberal President Senator Mar Roxas charged Friday.

"Nakakahiya na talaga (This is really embarrassing). This administration should be ashamed of itself. Si Joc-Joc Bolante, nahuli sa US; si General Carlos Garcia, nahuli sa US; itong mga Euro Generals, nahuli sa Russia; mga ilang contractors, nabuking ng World Bank. (Joc-Joc Bolante was arrested in the US; Gen. Carlos Garcia was also arrested in the US; the Euro Generals were arrested in Russia; and now, the World Bank has exposed corrupt contractors)," Roxas said.

"The entire world knows how corrupt our government is, even arrested these Filipino grafters when caught with their loot, but we cannot put them to justice," he also said.

The senator expressed dismay over President Arroyo's failure to curb corruption in her administration that even the World Bank had to blacklist seven firms - three from the Philippines and four from China - and an individual from projects it is funding for allegedly "engaging in collusive practices" during the biddings for the first phase of the National Road Improvement and Management Program (NRIMP).

"The world is seeing through the corruption of the Gloria administration and she is doing nothing about it. First it was the MCC, then the WB. Nasaan ba si Gloria? (Where is Gloria, anyway?) " he added.

Prior to this, the Millennium Challenge Corp. (MCC) that handles the foreign assistance program of the US government announced it was withholding the release of more anti-corruption funds to the Office of the Ombudsman after the Philippines earned a failing grade in the area of "control of corruption."

The Philippines failed two other indicators for not spending enough for health and primary education.

He said President Arroyo should drop now her political manipulations to extend her term beyond 2010 through an illegal constituent assembly and begin instead to clamp down on corrupt officials of her government.

"Gloria, nasaan ka ba? Asikasuhin mo naman ito. Unahin mo muna ang paglilinis ng gobyerno bago mo isipin ang pagpapalawig ng termino mo. Lumala ng lumala ang korapsyon sa ating bansa mula ng umupo kang pangulo. Ano bang ginagawa mo? (Gloria, were are you? Do something about this now. Prioritize ridding your government of corrupt officials instead of focusing on illegal ways to extend your term. Government corruption became worse during your watch. What have you been doing?)" he asked.

The Ilonggo senator said President Arroyo could begin her government's clean up by ordering Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez to immediately file cases against ranking public officials accused of stealing money from the government during their terms.

He said the Ombudsman should already file graft charges against ex-DA Undersecretary Jocelyn "Joc-Joc" Bolante for the P728 million fertilizer fund diversion scam, former PNP comptroller Eliseo dela Paz for the "Euro Generals" scandal and former Comelec chairman Benjamin Abalos for the botched Mega-Pacific poll modernization program and the NBN-ZTE controversy, among others.

"Our Ombudsman has one of the worst track records in the world, such that our corruption control rating with the MCC dropped by a precipitous 10 percentage point in just one year. Merceditas Gutierrez should shape up or leave," he said.

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