On World Anti-Corruption Day, Gordon calls on Filipinos to speak up

Senator Richard J. Gordon today called on the Filipino people to speak up against government corruption, especially during these challenging times when it is becoming increasingly rampant and more brazen in taking advantage of the pandemic.

On occasion of World Anti-Corruption Day today, Gordon reminded the Filipino electorate make elected and appointed public officials accountable for their actions, notably on the use and disposal of the hard-earned taxpayers' money.

"In this day and age when we have continued to struggle due to the ongoing pandemic, there are callous and unscrupulous individuals who are taking advantage of our situation by stealing from the nation's coffers," he said.

"We need to speak up now and stop this glaring corruption. Nasa ating mga kamay ang kapangyarihan upang matigil ang katiwalian sa ating pamahalaan. Hindi matitigil ang katiwalian kung mayroong nagkukunsinti," he added.

A staunch anti-corruption advocate, Gordon has helmed the powerful Committee on Accountability of Public Officers and Investigations (blue ribbon) since July 2016 when his investigations had led to filing of charges and convictions.

Two former Immigration officials were sentenced to 40 years in prison after the Senate blue ribbon committee's investigation discovered they attempted to extort PhP50 million from a Chinese tycoon in the so-called "Pastillas Scam."

It may be recalled that as a result of the Senate investigation, former Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Oscal Albayalde resigned and 12 other cops were indicted for graft after their role in a Nov. 2013 anti-drug raid.

It was also revealed that the cops underreported seized drugs and peddled some of the evidence through their network inside the national penitentiary, which also led to the filing of charges against officials of the Corrections bureau.

A total of 21 officials from PhilHealth, the national health insurance agency, were slapped with violation of anti-graft and corruption laws after Gordon uncovered the scheme during the investigation of false claims by fake dialysis centers.

At present, Gordon is currently leading the Senate inquiry on the alleged anomalous government deals it entered with favoured suppliers, notably the Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corporation, which has links to Mr. Duterte's friend and former economic adviser Michael Yang.

"The Senate is no rubber stamp of the executive. We are judiciously exercising our constitutionally-mandated mandate to investigate misfeasance, malfeasance, and nonfeasance in government," he said.

"This not a kangaroo court either. We look at the evidence presented to us based on its merit as the righteous way to ferret out the truth and continue our fight against corruption," he added.

Gordon is also readying its committee report on the alleged nonfeasance in the implementation of the Motorcycle Crime Prevention Act by the Land Transportation Office (LTO).

It was revealed that the LTO failed to implement the law, as five motorcycle dealers owned by a Mindanao-based family duped their customers by not issuing them their official registration papers.

Gordon recently called on the Bureau of Internal Revenue to file charges against the five companies for cheating the government billions in pesos worth of taxes.