CBCP prexy calls on people to continue fight vs corruption
Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) President and Jaro Archbishop Angel Lagdameo has called on the people to continue fighting graft and corruption and to search for honest leaders.
"We are facing so many problems coming from corruption in governance and therefore I am calling on all to be united in fighting this evil so that we may able give our country the kind of service that (it) deserves," Lagdameo said in an interview at the sidelines of a forum on corruption and governance here on Tuesday.
In a speech at the forum, Lagdameo said the search for honest leaders for the 2010 elections should start now so that the people can choose whom to support in the elections.
"One year may not be too long to look for (honest leaders)," the prelate said.
He stressed that honesty is the most important trait that the people should look for in leaders.
"This is the message that leaders should take to heart, for those aspiring for positions. At least (be) honest (and) not (be) a liar," said Lagdameo.
He said leaders should also provide a sense of direction and future for the people and to be "enthusiastic, energetic and positive of the future."
The country also needs leaders who are "inspiring, a cheerleader not only in the campaign period
but as a matter of fact," he said.
The prelate made the call amid the ongoing Senate on the alleged P728-million fertilizer fund scam that has implicated former Agriculture undersecretary Jocelyn Bolante, suspected of diverting the fund to President Macapagal-Arroyo's campaign in 2004.
The scam and other controversial projects including the $329- million ZTE-National Broadband Network project have cost the country trillions of pesos and has contributed to the worsening of poverty, said the forum's main speaker Bobby Tuazon.
Tuazon, director for policy study and political analyst of the Center for People Empowerment in Governance (Cenpeg), said around $48billion (P2 trillion) was lost to corruption from 1977-1997, citing a 2000 report of the World Bank.
He also cited the 2004 report of the United Nations Development Program that about 13percent or P100 billion of the national budget for 2001 was lost to corrupt officials.
Corruption has been a major governance issue since the administration of President Manuel Roxas in 1947 until today, according to Tuazon.
He said large-scale corruption has been done through the plunder of natural resources, nepotism, smuggling, public works contracts, debt-financed schemes, assets and services privatization and underworld-related activities.
With two former Philippine presidents (Ferdinand Marcos and Joseph Estrada among considered among the most corrupt leaders in the world, Tuazon said President Macapagal-Arroyo could surpassed their record citing results of a survey conducted last year showing that most Filipinos consider her the the country's most corrupt president
"Corruption is no longer simply the abuse of power for personal gain. (It) has become a means to power; and it is a means of entrenching elite rule. Corruption is a power by itself," said Tuazon.