By Llanesca T. Panti Reporter

Corrupt government officials in the Philippines should be banned from joining public service in perpetuity, visiting members of the British Parliament said Wednesday.

Mark Pritchard, chairman of the British All-Party Parliamentary Group for the Philippines, said that Filipinos should come up with strict laws and mechanisms to gang up on crooked public servants, since corruption undermines development.

“Corruption causes huge amount of damage to the needy and dispossessed that is hampering development,” he added during a roundtable discussion with De La Salle University faculty and students in Manila. “As such, punishments should be severe. They [corrupt officials] should be barred from joining the public service for life.”

The Catholic Church, Pritchard said, should be held accountable and should play a big role in fighting corruption, considering that 80 percent of the Filipinos are Catholic.

“The church leaders, down to the parish priest, should stress that stealing is wrong, and it is causing trouble to the country. People and politicians should remember that they are mortal, and that they will be held accountable by the judges of land and the judge in another place of the Earth,” Pritchard said.
Good example

Pritchard cited as good example the case of the World Bank’s blacklisting of seven firms and one individual. They were allegedly in collusion in a major bank-financed road projects in the country last year.

In January 2008, the World Bank cracked down on several firms participating in major projects it funds following an investigation that found evidence that a major cartel was involved in local and international bidding of contracts under phase one of the National Roads Improvement and Management Program (NRIMP1). Those firms are the E.C. de Luna Construction Corp. and Eduardo de Luna, owner and sole proprietor of the firm (both debarred indefinitely, the first permanent debarments since 2004); China Road and Bridge Corp. (barred for eight years); China State Construction Corp. and China Wu Yi Co. Ltd. (barred for six years each); China Geo-Engineering Corp. (barred for five years); and Cavite Ideal International Construction and Development Corp. and CM Pancho Construction Inc. (barred for four years each).

Later, the World Bank stopped some $33 million from being awarded and no World Bank funds were released for the National Roads Improvement and Management Program.

Moreover, the debarments prevented the implicated parties from bidding on future World Bank-financed contracts.

Improving transparency

Pritchard said, “This is one case of improving financial transparency. Some have improved to gray list. Hopefully it will be gone from the list soon.”

Member of Parliament Kenneth Clarke of the Conservative Party representing Rushcliffe revealed that the United Kingdom used to have lawmakers who won their positions using money.

“Once upon a time, UK was fantastically corrupt,” Clarke said. “There were gambling and vote-buying in the Parliament. But it was dissolved because we passed legislation to toughen up and professionalize the civil service, so that people will elect people based on merit, and that government officials won’t resort to appointing their relatives and their friends in the government.”

Obligation to voters

Pritchard urged Filipino politicians running in the 2010 elections, as well as the electorate, to participate and fulfill their duties as mandated by the Constitution.

He added that politics is a noble job, and that everybody should take it seriously and not use it to usurp money from the people.

“The Philippines’ reputation should be their priority, not their personal advancement,“ Pritchard said, adding that the electorate should also do their research on the candidates’ platform of governance instead of being swayed by popularity.