ROXAS: BURDEN OF GOV'T TO ENSURE UPRIGHT GOVERNANCE
HITS OMBUDSMAN FOR NOT ACTING ON "PREPONDERANCE OF EVIDENCE"

Liberal President Senator Mar Roxas today said it is the burden of high government office to show to the public that government is upright and its processes, such as procurement, are clean and bereft of corruption.

This, as he hit the Ombudsman for not acting on the "preponderance of evidence" shown by the voluminous World Bank (WB) report on rigged bidding in a multi-billion road project.

"Talagang napakabigat ng obligasyon ng ating gobyerno na panatilihing malinis ang procurement process. Kung mataas ang posisyon sa gobyerno, ang pasanin ay para ipakita na malinis ang pamamalakad ng mga tanggapan ng gobyerno (This obligation of government to ensure that the procurement process is clean is so great. Those in high government have a burden to show that good governance is practiced in all agencies)," the Vice Chairman of the Senate Committee on Economic Affairs said.

"Hindi lang ang mga pangalang nabanggit sa report na ito ang isyu dito. Ang isyu dito ay napapaligiran na tayo ng mga sindikato sa loob ng pamahalaan, kasama dito ang mga negosyanteng baluktot, kasabwat ang mga matataas ang poder (The issue here is not only the names mentioned in the report. The issue here is that we are surrounded by syndicates within the government, together with crooked businessmen and other powerful individuals)," he stressed.

"Everyday, these corruption syndicates are planning, conspiring and instigating the systematic plunder of the people's money," he added.

Roxas, who has been designated as acting chairman of the Senate economic affairs committee at the WB technical briefing on its investigative and sanctions processes, chided Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez anew for her "passive" reaction to World Bank's findings of corrupt practices that taint the bidding of infrastructure projects it is funding in the country.

"Nabanggit ng World Bank na sa ibang bansa, sapat na itong referral report para pagsimulan ng isang malawak na imbestigasyon sa kanilang mga procurement process (World Bank mentioned that in other countries, this referral report was enough to trigger a massive investigation into their procurement process). 'We all start from the same base,' as World Bank said," the Ilonggo senator said.

"Napakalaki ng pagkukulang ng Ombudsman. Natanggap nito ang report pero naging passive naman ito. I am criticizing the government dahil wala itong ginawa para pursigidong at agresibong alamin ang katotohanan (The Ombudsman's failings here are very evident. She received the report but it was passive towards it. I am criticizing the government because it did nothing to aggressively pursue the truth)," he said.

He noted that Gutierrez' office was first informed of the Bank's interim findings into allegations of fraud and corruption in the first phase of the NRIMP road project in an oral briefing in Washington D.C. in May 2006. On the other hand, the Bank's Referral Report on the NRIMP1 project was referred to the Ombudsman's office in November 13, 2007.

Roxas had released to the public copies of the World Bank report after he, along with 14 other senators, signed a Manifestation agreeing to release to the public all documents submitted to the committee during its February 12 hearing into the rigging mess.

The documents include, among others, the WB Referral Report submitted by the Office of the Ombudsman, the Decisions of the Sanctions Board submitted by the 3 Filipino firms debarred by the Bank, the Notice of Sanctions Proceeding, inclusive of testimonies of witness, submitted by Sen. Panfilo Lacson and the NRIMP1 Evidence, also submitted by the Office of the Ombudsman.

"Sa aming palagay, dapat mailagay sa public domain ang mga dokumentong ito dahil pera ng taumbayan ang napag-uusapan dito sa mga anomalyang ito. At ito ang dahilan kung bakit nire-release na ito sa publiko para hindi na nga magkaroon ng pagkakataon na gawing sikreto pa ito (We believe these documents should be part of the public domain because this anomaly involves the people's money. This is the reason why we released this to the public so there's no more opportunity to keep these documents in secret)," he said.

"Nasa pambansang interes ang transparency. Walang national security dito. Ang punto rito, mahalaga ang katotohanan (Transparency is in our national interest. There's no national security issue involved here. The point is, the truth is important)," he stressed.