EO protecting whistleblowers eyed

Discussions are underway for an executive order (EO) that may later be expanded into a bill providing protection to whistleblowers as the government struggles to contain serious graft and corruption that erode its revenues.

Involved on the discussions are the Office of the Ombudsman and the Revenue Integrity Protection Service (RIPS) under the Department of Finance.

The effort was spurred by recent problems with informants who ended up being harassed and accused after calling attention to irregularities in government.

Sources have pointed out that the government has no code of conduct on the handling of whistleblowers. Among the issues that need to be addressed is the issue of immunity from legal harassment.

Under existing laws, informants could turn state witness and even go into state-funded witness protection programs in order to allow them to resume normal life.

"What we are doing now is looking at what we can do so that whistleblowers in government, specifically, are protected," the source said. "We all rely on informants and if they are going to end up being harassed for their troubles, no one will come forward anymore."

With no protection against harassment suits and charges, government investigators warn that sophisticated white collar crimes would be almost impossible to prosecute because whistle-blowers would be too afraid to come forward in the future.

Well-placed sources revealed over the weekend that the controversy over tax frauds involving the One Stop Shop Tax Credit and Duty Drawback Center (OSS) has made government informants edgy about their involvement in various graft and corruption investigations.

According to sources, the charges of negligence filed against former OSS director Ernesto Hiansen was "more jarring" than the controversial Acsa Ramirez case where the primary witness was "mistakenly" presented before the media as the primary suspect.

In contrast, sources said the filing of charges against Hiansen by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) was deliberate.

"Given all its resources, all the NBI could come up with was negligence," the source said. "It’s clear that they just wanted to harass Hiansen who, in fairness, was the one who alerted everyone on this new tax fraud scheme."

The source warned that the handling of the Hiansen case would threaten all ongoing investigations of various graft bodies since their informants are all under threat.

"It’s complicated and hard enough as it is to go after white collar crimes," said the source. "We all rely on informants to make our case so if we don’t protect these informants from harassment, how else can we have access to inside information that have been the foundation of most corruption cases?"