Wanted: Graftbusters with excellent integrity
Are you a Filipino citizen with basic qualifications and excellent integrity? You may be the added force needed by the Office of the Ombudsman in the Visayas.
As such, have your moment with Assistant Ombudsman Virginia Palanca-Santiago, chair of the screening committee. To date, several Ilonggo hopefuls have shown up at the doorstep of the Ombudsman Office here in Iloilo City .
All bearing credentials, Ombudsman Santiago though stressed that final picks of the week must have a lot to be desired in terms of integrity-check.
From the roster of applicants will come the two Associate Graft Officers of the anti-graft body, work force that Deputy Ombudsman Pelagio Apostol earlier promised to add in the Visayas office.
With the new employees also comes the promotions for current Ombudsman staff.
"It will mean more complaints and more Request for Assistance to be handled," Ombudsman Santiago said.
Meantime, a nationwide strategy for collective action against graft and corruption will launched in the coming weeks.
Dubbed "National Anti-Corruption Program of Action (NACPA)," Ombudsman Santiago said it will be a show of unity by both government and the private sector.
Tanodbayan Merceditas Navarro-Gutierrez in a statement said that only through the convergence process will corruption be reduced "to such an extent that will enable Filipinos to fully enjoy the blessings of independence and democracy as proclaimed in our Constitution's preamble."
A NACPA roadshow is slated on March 13 and 14 in Cebu City alongside the official opening of Public Assistance Booths of the Ombudsman.
NACPA is an initiative for the convergence of anti-corruption efforts in the Philippines spearheaded by the Office of the Ombudsman under Ombudsman Gutierrez.