Senate President Franklin Drilon. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines –Senate President Franklin Drilon was unfazed by a recent survey showing a significant downturn in the perceived sincerity of the Senate in fighting corruption, saying it was “natural and temporary.”
From a good +36 in 2012, the Senate’s rating dipped to neutral -8 based on the Social Weather Stations Survey of Enterprises on Corruption conducted from July 31 to November 29 last year.
Drilon said the plunge was “perfectly understandable” and the poor figure was just “natural and temporary.”
“They are a natural consequence of the public’s outrage on the pork-barrel controversy, which involved the Senate as amongst the affected institutions,” he said in a statement on Thursday.
“I believe what is clear now with these numbers is the gravity of the people’s intolerance to corruption in public service, and that positive changes which will eliminate government corruption are definitely in order.”
But Drilon was confident that the chamber could redeem itself. He cited the efforts being done by senators to institute reforms and policies towards erasing corruption from Philippine governance.
“Only genuine reforms which can be instituted through appropriate legislation would truly vindicate the Senate back into its status as an honored and trusted public institution,” he said.
“The Senate will waste no time as it continues its efforts throughout this new year to institute policy reforms within the Senate and pass measures that will stamp out graft and corruption in the bureaucracy.”
“We intend to produce results that the public can see for themselves – so that they would know that they are being heard, that something is being done,” the Senate leader said.
Drilon pointed out that throughout last year, the Senate initiated moves like abolition of the Priority Development Assistance Fund, inquiry on the pork barrel scam and pending discussions on the Freedom of Information Bill, which he said are examples of the chamber’s commitment to its anti-corruption and reformist agenda.
He also cited various bills to help eliminate corruption such as the amendments to the Sandiganbayan Law in order to “expedite the disposition of numerous ongoing cases bogged-down in the anti-graft court; amendments to the Republic Act 6770, or the Ombudsman Act, are “being seriously considered; and the Whistleblower’s Act and Witness Protection Program, among others.
“Our next actions will be devoted towards developing ways to ensure that the threat of corruption will no longer be an ugly stain on our nation and on our people. We can only regain the public’s trust by genuinely acting towards eliminating the scourge of corruption from institutions that are supposed to serve the people,” he further said.
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