Crisis at Customs not over, says Oreta

Opposition Sen. Teresa Aquino-Oreta claimed yesterday Malacañang has not really averted the crisis surrounding the resignations of five ranking Customs officials, including its chief Antonio Bernardo.

Oreta claimed the resignation of the Customs officials last Friday may indicate escalating restlessness among government officials and employees over President Arroyo’s drive to present reforms in the bureaucracy in the remaining 10 months of her administration.

"Another way of looking at it, is that these Customs officials merely found a convenient excuse to abandon a sinking ship that is the Arroyo administration," Oreta said.

While she welcomed the renewed campaign against graft and corruption, Oreta said Malacañang should correct the growing perception that the lifestyle check being conducted are moves to divert public attention to the allegations made by Sen. Panfilo Lacson against First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo.

She said the move is intended to prop up the image of the Arroyo administration for the 2004 general elections.

"Malacañang’s anti-corruption campaign of subjecting government officials and employees to a shame campaign by exposing their lifestyle without giving them a chance to explain their side or defend themselves has sent chills across the bureaucracy," Oreta said.

Customs Commissioner Antonio Bernardo and four of his deputies tendered their courtesy resignations Friday, saying they resigned in protest to what they described as trial by publicity.

Malacañang said Mrs. Arroyo managed to defuse the situation after she assured due process will be accorded to all officials subjected to the lifestyle check.

"What will not prevent Malacañang, which is notorious for short-circuiting legal process, from subjecting government personnel to a trial by publicity without due process just so it could project a tough graft-busting image and divert public focus away from the latest controversies hounding the First Family?" Oreta asked.

Malacañang stressed the lifestyle checks was a means to implement the campaign to clean up the government of graft and corruption.

The lifestyle checks will determine whether government officials and employees have wealth and assets that go beyond their normal salaries.

Several government employees who have been checked were found to have substantial assets but they usually claim the wealth came from legal sources such as relatives.

For his part, Vice President Teofisto Guingona said Malacañang should ensure that the graft charges against suspected officials should be backed up by strong evidence.

"There should be thorough follow-up investigations so that concrete evidence can be presented in court when charges are eventually filed against the suspected grafters in government," he said.

Guingona underscored the need for more investigators to do the lifestyle checks on government officials.

He said a thorough lifestyle check program backed by competent investigators would be able to unmask those living beyond their legitimate salaries.

The Vice President, who served as Commission on Audit (COA) chief during the administration of President Corazon Aquino, noted that lifestyle checks could be an affective way of discouraging corruption in government.

Guingona pointed out the common practice of corrupt government officials is to employ "dummies" to conceal their ownership of ill-gotten wealth.

The President has vowed to continue the checks on government employees, saying that if civil servants and their families "can’t stand a life of relative sacrifice and frugality, he or she must leave the service."

Earlier this year, Mrs. Arroyo issued Administrative Order No. 62 creating the Transparency Group under the Office of the President.

Mrs. Arroyo appointed Presidential Chief of Staff Rigoberto Tiglao to take charge of the group to conduct the lifestyle check.

The body is also tasked to assist the Presidential Anti-Graft Commission (PAGC) in the lifestyle checks on all her Cabinet officials and appointees.

Malacañang has clarified the Transparency Group does not overlap the functions and jurisdiction of other in-house anti-graft bodies since it complements the overall government campaign against graft and corruption.

The group also entertains "confidential information" to start a formal investigation on the lifestyle of any presidential appointees. - Jose Rodel Clapano, Sammy Santos