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By Jomar Canlas Reporter
The top five most graft-prone
government agencies—in no particular order—are the Bureau of
Internal Revenue, Bureau of Customs, Department of Public Works and
Highways, Department of Education and Land Transportation Office,
the Ombudsman said Wednesday.
Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez
made the statement during a meeting with the Federation of
Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry Inc. in Binondo,
Manila. She and federation officials signed an agreement to fight
graft.
During the ceremony, she said
that where there is corruption in a government agency, there is the
private citizen partly to blame for making it happen.
“You know it takes two to
tango,” she explained. “There can be no corruption in [a
government] agency if there are no private persons involved.”
A private person commits
corruption of a public official when he offers money in exchange for
favors, she said.
Gutierrez advised Filipinos not
to offer government workers money to facilitate transactions or
secure clearances or permits because the government has been working
hard to reduce red tape.
She said the top five graft-prone
offices were listed for having the most number of cases filed
against their officials and employees. Gutierrez clarified that no
ranking was made, except that the Ombudsman has received “a lot of
complaints” against these offices.
She cited a World Bank report
that said the government lost P20 billion in the last five years to
corruption.
Instead of resorting to offering
money or other bribes, Gutierrez said businessmen can complain about
red tape to her office.
The Office of the Ombudsman is
planning to sign agreements with the Makati Business Club and other
business groups to address the corruption issue, she said.
In addition, she asked for public
support, saying the fight against corruption is not the sole
responsibility of the Ombudsman.
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