Ombudsman to tap CBCP for lifestyle check

Ombudsman Simeon Marcelo said yesterday his office will ask the help of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) in checking the lifestyle of government officials.

In a telephone interview with The STAR, Marcelo said the CBCP-affiliated Pastoral Council of the Philippines and the Legion of Mary can gather details from their communities.

"We can easily determine whether their lifestyle is beyond their income," he said.

"The important role to be played by the CBCP’s group is that they can easily update us with some details about how the government officials are living, what’s their lifestyle."

Marcelo said Assistant Ombudsman Cyril Ramos and Director Melchor Ramos are in Hong Kong and South Korea to study how their governments were able to eradicate graft and corruption.

"We are using Hong Kong and South Korea as model," he said.

Marcelo said the Ombudsman’s Office will hire additional lawyers to prosecute the more than 3,000 graft cases pending in the Sandiganbayan.

"We lack the necessary manpower that is why we have a low batting average in terms of the prosecution of cases filed in court," he said.

"I would like to double the number of 32 active prosecutors within the next two to three years."

Marcelo said he will increase from six to 50 percent the number of lawyers at the Office of the Special Prosecutor, the prosecuting arm of the Office of the Ombudsman.

"It’s really hard for a lawyer to prepare if you are outnumbered," he said. "I would like to make our government lawyers be at par with the private lawyers who are defending government officials accused of crimes, who are wealthy enough to hire a battery of well-paid and good lawyers."

He would also decrease from five to three years the required experience for lawyers to qualify them to become prosecutors, Marcelo added.

Meanwhile, Commissioner Teresita Baltazar told The STAR yesterday the Presidential Anti-Graft Commission (PAGC) is ready to start checking the lifestyle of government officials next month.

"We must have results on the lifestyle check to show the people that it can be done," she said. "Although we may not finish all, at least we have to start somewhere and investigate as much as we can so that even beyond 2004, it will continue."

Baltazar said the PAGC will launch an anti-corruption campaign to teach people how to spot corruption in government transactions and how to gather evidence against a suspect.

"(Mrs. Arroyo) really means business," she said. "And by providing resources to enable concerned government agencies to undertake anti-corruption work shows that she is serious."

Anti-corruption efforts must begin with what the PAGC has to counter public cynicism, Baltazar added.–Jose Rodel Clapano, Katherine Adraneda