Cayetano welcomes Klitgaard; stresses need for institutional
reforms to fight corruption

Senate minority leader Alan Peter Cayetano on Wednesday welcomed the appointment of American professor Robert Klitgaard as anti-corruption consultant of the Aquino administration and expressed optimism that institutional reforms will soon be in place.

"We welcome the efforts of the Aquino administration to seriously address corruption, but the existing system that lacks transparency and accountability in governance allows the problem to linger at its worse pace," said Cayetano.

The senator cited credentials of Dr. Klitgaard, known as world's leading expert on corruption, having worked with around 30 governments on institutional reforms.

Cayetano pointed out that there are key effective legislative measures that remain pending such as the Freedom of Information Bill and Whistle Blowers Act that will give teeth to the planned institutional reforms.

He explained that without the two proposed laws in place, government agencies, as a policy, still do not allow public access to contracts, transactions that involve spending of state coffers.

The FOI bill seeks to guarantee transparency and accountability in governance that allows public access to government transactions-from the contracts, expenditures.