Laws slows down Duterte fight vs.corruption

The destabilizing article published by American business magazine Forbes, which claims that the country is turning into a “more corrupt and less democratic state ‘ under President Rodrigo Roa Duterte’s watch is aside from being untrue is not acknowledging the efforts done by the authorities to zero if not lessen graft and corruption practices in the country.

President Duterte even if he wants to clean a government agency of graft and corruption cannot readily do so because the constitutional right of “due Process’ is making the fight against corruption a “struggle.”

Presidential Spokesperson and concurrent Presidential Legal Adviser Atty. Salvador Panelo made this statement when the recent 2019 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) showed the country fell by 14 notches, ranking 113th out of 180 countries from 99th in 2018.

(photo credit to owner)

The result of such ranking could force Duterte to fire more corrupt government officials in order to weed out the corrupt public officials.

“It will goad us to sack more corrupt officials. Sack, S-A-C-K. Provided of course there is evidence to show that they are,” Panelo said.

Panelo admits that gathering documentary and testimonial evidence to fire these corrupt government officials made the process a tedious one as many witnesses were afraid to testify.

“We are in fact struggling because the President’s hands are tied by the due process clause of the Constitution,” he said.

Because not all public officials were presidential appointees, Panelo said it was difficult for the President to just “dismiss all of them outright."

“You need to file charges against them, and you need evidence to back your complaint,” Panelo said.

Panelo, however, refutes the  critics and detractors of the administration in saying that the administration’s fight against corruption is a failure.

“I don’t think so because precisely we’ve been fighting corruption. And as we have seen, the President has been firing top government officials and complains against erring—government officials have been charged in the Ombudsman and in the courts,” Panelo said.

The 2019 CPI, the Philippines tied with five other countries namely El Salvador, Kazakhstan, Nepal, Eswatini, and Zambia with a score of 34. 

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Report from PNA

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