People's Graftwatch of Iloilo gets award; credits media for vital role

The People's Graft Watch of Iloilo, Inc. is given the recognition of being Outstanding Civil Society Partner of the Office of the Ombudsman, in a ceremony held at the Manila Diamond Hotel, May 12, 2005.

The event coincided with the 17 th Foundation Anniversary of the Office of the Ombudsman and the launching of the European Commission-Ombudsman (EC-OMB) Corruption Prevention Project attended by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo , tanodbayan Officials and participating agencies.

Social Action director Msgr. Meliton Oso, who received the award in Manila, said that the recognition given them shows that their anti-corruption efforts in Iloilo are significant contributions to corruption prevention, even as he also admits that corruption is still unabated.  They still have so much to prove that the cases they are working on can yield satisfactory results.

The People's Graft Watch was accredited in 1997.  Since then it has brought to the attention of the Office of the Ombudsman more or less thirty corruption cases.  Two of these are the 28 million pesos 3-kilometer Leon-Bucari Road which was reported completed but in reality only partially cemented, and the 120 million pesos housing project of the city of Iloilo.

Msgr. Oso said that the Graft Watch is specially indebted to Iloilo media for their fearless exposition of corrupt activities and projects in Iloilo, for their vigilance in taking note of these, otherwise, the graft Watch may not have monitored such.

“We get information on these anomalous projects firstly from the media.  Without their stories which we clip and send to the Ombudsman, there could have been no investigations or inquiries, Oso said.

He also said that the group has been training volunteers to help in their active participation in the conduct of Lifestyle Check, Procurement Watch and Internal Revenue Allocation (IRA) Watch.

Significantly, the People's Graft Watch of Iloilo, Inc, has also been helping ordinary citizens so that they get attention of government as well as preventing harassment of government workers as they deal with the public.  This way, Msgr. Oso said, graft and corruption can be prevented in the transactions.

Graft Watch Iloilo  is a strong proponent and advocate of European Commission-OMB Corruption Prevention Project which was launched here, May 13, 2005, with NAMFREL's Joe Concepcion, Jr., facilitated by Jaro Archbishop Msgr. Angel Lagdameo (PIA 6/ESS)..