Asian parliaments to join forces vs corruption

Lawmakers across the Southeast Asian region have joined forces in putting up a regional organization that will fight graft and corruption, Sen. Edgardo Angara announced yesterday.

Angara said parliamentarians from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have decided to form a common front against the graft and corruption plaguing member countries.

Senate President Franklin Drilon said Filipino lawmakers will have the chance to meet their counterparts from all over the world in two international conferences set this month until the first week of April.

Drilon said the senators would also have the chance to meet Swiss lawmakers to discuss the pending ratification of the RP-Swiss Treaty on Mutual Legal Assistance on Criminal Matters in separate bilateral talks on the 112th Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) general assembly in Manila from April 3 to 9.

Drilon said the signing of the treaty is important since it will strengthen the country’s ties with the Swiss government in the bid to create mechanisms to boost the campaign of the Philippine government over ill-gotten wealth stashed in several Swiss bank accounts.

"The treaty is expected to strengthen cooperation between the Philippines and Switzerland in the fight against transnational crimes, particularly terrorism, organized crime, government corruption, as well as facilitate cooperation on legal matters involving nationals of both countries," Drilon said.

The Swiss government will be sending a 12-member delegation to attend the IPU General Assembly.

Separate bilateral talks between Filipino and Swiss lawmakers will be held to discuss the RP-Swiss treaty.

Angara, meanwhile, said the plan to create a regional body against corruption would be a major part of the agenda of the meeting of ASEAN parliamentarians on March 31 to April 1.

Angara, who represents the ASEAN parliamentarians in the executive committee of the Ottawa-based Global Organization of Parliamentarians Against Corruption, said ASEAN lawmakers would set up Southeast Asian Parliamentarians Against Corruption, which would have a major role in fighting corruption in the region through legislation and advocacy work.

The organizing conference is also expected to ratify a United Nations Convention Against Corruption that was signed in 2003. The UN Convention was a direct result of the body’s realization that there should be more effective legal instruments for fighting corruption on a global scale.

"This will be a big step for the region and a bigger step for the Philippines, a country plagued by corruption," Angara said.

Angara said the work includes ensuring transparency in the use of public funds, fighting money laundering, curbing obstruction of justice, and helping non-government organizations make people aware of the cancer of corruption.

Even the effort to clean up the political system of dirty money and corrupt election practices is within the scope of work defined by the UN convention, Angara added.

The Philippines has been ranked the second most corrupt country in Asia by the Political & Economic Risk Consultancy Ltd., a Hong Kong-based risk analysis firm.