Businessmen to Aquino: eliminate corruption in 1st 100 days

Justice targets zero backlog >>> To clear his office of a backlog of cases and petitions before he bows out of service on June 30, Justice Secretary Alberto Agra says that he has tapped 25 more lawyers to help him resolve the motions for review involving more than 700 pending cases.

New rules eyed to stop harassment of judges..."Those who are guilty must be penalized and those who are not must be absolved right away so they can focus on their job"

Members of the House of Representatives criticize obviously rigged bidding of the P500-million Land Transportation Office ( LTO ) Drivers License plastic cards supply. LTO fast tracking to award to preferred supplier

620 Filipinos currently detained in different countries for drug trafficking according to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA)

President-elect Benigno Aquino III vowed to prioritize the passage of the Freedom of Information Bill (FOI) once he assumes office

The corruption-plagued NBN-ZTE deal typifies what went wrong with Philippine-Chinese cooperation. The plunderers saw the project, to be funded with Chinese concessional loans, as another opportunity to line their pockets thick. The Chinese suppliers had to overprice the project cost to accommodate the big-time grease money demanded by the local "facilitators." When the can of worms was uncovered, Gloria had to scrap the deal to erase the trail directly leading to Malacañangs doorsteps.

GRAFT CASES against Social Security System president Romulo Neri and former Commission on Elections chair Benjamin Abalos over the scuttled National Broadband Network deal with Chinas ZTE Corp. are at a standstill.

Catholic bishops urge presidential front-runner Sen. Benigno Simeon "Noynoy" Aquino III to abolish legislators' pork barrel funds once he assumes office, noting that he ran his campaign on the premise of eliminating corruption.

New Philippine Government Taking Shape >>> Can Noynoy save the country and rout the crooks?

LEONOR BRIONES: "Half of funds for infrastracture projects go to corruption"

House fails to pass Freedom of Information bill that will require greater transparency from government officials because of lack of quorum. Of the required 135 lawmakers, only 128 were present today or the last session day of the 14th Congress.

FIGHTING CORRUPTION >>> ...it appears that a key issue the new government should address is corruption. The farmers, having been victims not only of neglect but also of numerous scams, are tired of being used as an excuse for corruption. Much of the money allegedly for the farmers' welfare ends up in the pockets of government officials who use it for their unscrupulous ends.

ARROYO CLEARED: Ombudsman sticks to its line in its investigation of the scuttled $329-million National Broadband Network (NBN) deal with Chinese firm ZTE Corp., getting President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo off the hook a second time and pinning Romulo Neri down on his alleged involvement in the scandal. In a resolution, the Ombudsman said there was no government conspiracy to prevent whistle-blower Rodolfo Jun Lozada from testifying in the Senate on Ms Arroyos role in the NBN-ZTE deal.

Human error uncovered in PCOS forensic tests >>> Instead of signs of fraud, errors possibly committed by members of the board of election inspectors (BEI) were uncovered when the forensic examination of precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines found at a poll technician's house resumed at the Senate.

Ombudsman junks former special prosecutor's appeal

PHILIPPINE bureaucracy remains one of the most inefficient in Asia, an annual survey of expatriate business executives showed.

FOI is dead >>> The Freedom of Information Act would have guaranteed the people, ordinary citizens to gain access to vital government records which otherwise can be kept secrets by the powers-that-be. The Freedom of Information bill will definitely be a strong anti-corruption measure because it will ensure transparency in government affairs.

WAR ON CORRUPTION >>> First, name an avant-garde anti-corruption team; Second, secure the cooperation of the Ombudsman and the judiciary >>> The anti-graft team will have the toughest job in the Noynoy government.

Corruption, Poverty, and our Honor >>> How simple-minded, too, are those who wish to distract a new Aquino presidency from its promise of addressing corruption as its primary objective as though the rest of governance cannot be attended to.

Pork barrel politics>>>pork barrel has acquired derogatory connotations as it is known to provide opportunities for Congress leaders to receive bribe money from contractors of pork-funded projects in their areas of jurisdiction. Pork barrel has been used to mean inducement, incentives, payoff, payola,

Of all the scams that the Arroyo administration tried to foist on the Filipino people, none equals the ZTE-NBN scandal in terms of greed and impunity. The reported over-price which would have gone to various Arroyo characters amounted to $140 million, or roughly P7 billion...Until we get leaders who will lead by example, who say enough is enough, and back up their words with strong or even harsh action, we shall continue to suffer from this cycle of greed and corruption which has plagued our country for so long.

The Ombudsman and presidential immunity >>> the Ombudsman is not just a prosecutor, but is also the final administrative authority that has the power fire public officers for breach of the trust reposed in them. It also has the power to compel public officers to perform their duties.

Access to truth is power >>> THE leadership of the House of Representatives should not feign non-chalance at the snowballing clamor for the chamber to ratify the Bicameral Conference Committee report on the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act, and hope these pesky lobbyists would just go away or, in the words of one fascist professor at a state university, just lie down and die. The latest voices to be added to the clamor for ratification are over 100 organizations all over the country that stress the importance of a Foia, as its shortcut is called, to fulfilling peoples aspirations for transparency and good governance.