Top schools call for united front vs corruption

University of the Philippines, Ateneo de Manila University, Miriam College.UP PHOTO FROM INQUIRER FILE; ATENEO PHOTO FROM THEIR FACEBOOK ACCOUNTS; MIRIAM COLLEGE PHOTO FROM ITS WEBSITE (mc.edu.ph)

MANILA, Philippines—As a new witness emerged on the infamous pork barrel scam, four of the country’s leading schools called for a renewed vigilance and a more united front against corruption.

In a joint statement released on Thursday, the Ateneo de Manila University, De La Salle University, Miriam College and the University of the Philippines stressed that the guilty parties must be held accountable and punished for crimes committed against the people.

The statement, signed by the presidents of the four schools, restated the “collective condemnation of the misuse of public funds by unscrupulous government officials and their conniving associates.”

“We join the sustained clamor of the people to end the deeply entrenched culture of graft, corruption and patronage in our political system,” it said.

The statement was signed by Father Jose Ramon Villarin of the Ateneo, Bro. Ricardo Laguda of DLSU, Dr. Rosario Lapus of Miriam College and UP’s Alfredo Pascual.

They issued the statement after a new witness, Ruby Tuason, returned from the US to testify about her part in the scam, implicating Sen. Jinggoy Estrada in the process.

“Will we never tire of asking ‘how many times can a man turn his head, pretending he just doesn’t see?’ Let the answers we seek be found not just in the wind but in our very selves,” the school officials said.

“As institutions of higher learning, we send word to our nation that we shall keep vigil until the truth is told and we at last are free,” they said.

The four school presidents renewed their call to the academic community and the public to support the quest for the truth, “and the requisite acts of justice and reparation that must follow.”

They urged the government to ensure transparency and accountability, as well as expedite the probe of the pork barrel scandal and other instances of theft of public funds.

“We insist that the appropriate cases against public officials involved in corruption and plunder be filed and prosecuted with the dispatch due not only the accused and the respondents but the aggrieved and victimized nation even more,” they said.