EDITORIAL - Anti-Corruption Day

The Aquino administration came to power on the wings of public hopes that it would deliver on its promise to fight corruption. Kung walang corrupt, walang mahirap, candidate Benigno Aquino III trumpeted, and millions of voters agreed with him, giving him a decisive victory.

The road toward meeting people’s expectations has been littered with major stumbling blocks. The latest serious blow came as the world prepared to mark International Anti-Corruption Day, when the Supreme Court threw out the presidential order creating the Truth Commission. Yesterday the government said it was prepared to amend Executive Order No. 1 to correct what the court, in a 10-5 vote, cited as the infirmities of the EO.

In the past decade, there has been increasing global awareness of the consequences of corruption on many aspects of national life, particularly in efforts to ease poverty in the developing world. The United Nations General Assembly agreed in December 2000 to draw up a legal instrument against corruption. On Oct. 1, 2003, the General Assembly approved a resolution adopting the UN Convention Against Corruption, which went into force on Dec. 14, 2005. The Philippines signed the convention on Dec. 9, 2003, but it took three more years before the country accepted it. Of 148 parties to the convention, 140 are now signatories.

Among the important aspects of the convention are international cooperation in the prevention, investigation and prosecution of corruption cases, as well as in asset recovery and extradition of offenders. Dec. 9, International Anti-Corruption Day, is a good time to assess how countries have fared in these efforts.

Observance of the special day also emphasizes the need for preventive measures. There are many ways to excise corruption from the country’s social fabric. The missing element in the past was political will. Now that the element is in place, the anti-corruption campaign should not be derailed by temporary setbacks.