Vice President Noli de Castro accused of graft and corruption for entering in alleged "midnight deal" for controversial P6-billion "Smokey Mountain Project."

For the latest Philippine news stories and videos, visit GMANews.TV

Business firms gloss over corruption, human rights issues - UN survey

Ex-Cabinet men to Noynoy: Adopt good governance agenda

Philippine commentator known for blistering attacks on corruption died Wednesday in second fatal attack in 24 hours on a broadcaster

Radio man's murder seen warning for logging foes

Church excommunicates fraudulent priest

Supreme Court renews Sandigan body on Marcoses' ill-gotten wealth

Impunity alive and well in the Philippines

Aquino vows not to appoint relatives

US to test Aquino's pledge to fight corruption

Prosecutor throws out bribery rap for lack of evidence

Aquino warned: Binay's integrity is suspect

Noynoy urged: Appoint good people, form independent anti-graft body

US STATE DEPARTMENT 2010 TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS REPORT: "Corruption remained pervasive in the Philippines, and there were reports that officials in government units and agencies assigned to enforce laws against human trafficking permitted trafficking offenders to conduct illegal activities, either tacitly or explicitly..."

Ombudsman orders six-month suspension of nine Department of Public Works and Highways officials (DPWH), including current undersecretary who exposed the alleged anomalous project completed some five years ago...

Catholic bishops Monday call on President-elect to put stop to outgoing administration's plan to open more casinos around the country, stressing that gambling destroys families and corrupts people.

FORMER Cebu vice governor Democrito Barcenas yesterday urged the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas to resolve all graft and corruption cases filed against government officials and employees that have been pending for years.

OUTGOING DAVAO CITY MAYOR warnS investigators of the Office of the Ombudsman in their manner of gathering evidence in relation to the plunder case filed against him...

THE BUREAU of Internal Revenue (BIR) has collected P15 million under the Oplan Kandado program from March to May

Liberal Party senators work to replace Ombudsman

Radio Journalist shot dead in Davao Oriental >>> killing may have been linked to commentaries against mining and illegal logging operations in Davao Oriental

Graftbusters exhort Aquino: World body holds Noynoy on vow to fight corruption

Senate to continue providing security to whistleblowers

NET WORTH of Philippine Senators based on their 2009 StatementS of Assets and Liabilities and Net Worth (SALNs)

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's peace adviser, Secretary Annabelle Abaya, said she was proud of "breaking the back of corruption" in the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process

Mantaring asked to probe NBI Cavite: For allegedly receiving bribe from gamblers

Aumentado to Aquino: Fulfill vow of curbing graft, corruption

Rid RP of corruptionTo meet MDG by 2015, UN urges Aquino

Bishops urge new leaders to liberate RP from corruption

Global Organization of Parliamentarians Against Corruption to hold 2013 biennial conference in Manila

The new administration must focus on solving the alleged corruption and inefficiency at the Bureau of Customs (BoC)

In 14 years, Speaker grows wealth from P6.5M to P88M

Trafficking in humans hits worrisome level...Increasing poverty has driven many Filipinos to clutch at empty promises of bogus recruiters and human traffickers

THE RIGHT TO KNOW: The passing into law of the Freedom of Information bill would have been a most potent tool to eliminate or, at the very least, weaken corruption.

A LEGACY OF SHAME: Patronage politics, they have named it. When young students hinted at being required to deliver votes in exchange for their continuing scholarship, it was left for the media to report and comment on. Not one civic organization or even church person stood up to castigate such corruption of the young. Some in the clergy even allowed themselves to become campaign machineries. But then, why should they slap the hand that comes in handy for project sponsorship. When it was already apparent that politicians were appropriating government projects for themselves, we as a people didn't go out and enumerate to all and sundry what statesmen are supposed to be while the clergy remained mum about such crass corruption. When media organizations initiated election awareness and involvement campaign, we left it at the level of individual change and individual votes.

To combat corruption, Aquinas must abolish the pork barrel >>> one of the ganglia of rooted and institutionalized corruption mechanism through which pass practices of patronage and cronyism between national policy and local communities, including the central and peripheral administration. Philippine Parliamentarians, in fact, decide to whom, how and where to allocate a certain amount of public money to spend in their communities of origin. This power leads to backroom deals, favorite foods merely for electoral purposes, encourages the exchange rate policy.

Ombudsman Replies to PPTRP On SALNs >>> We've received a response from the Office of the Ombudsman to our April 21 request to access and publish all the Statement of Assets and Liabilities and Net Worth (SALNs) that they hold. The Ombudsman holds the SALNs of its own officials and employees as well as those of the President, Vice President, and the chairmen and commissioners of constitutional bodies. ...This response from the Ombudsman is more detailed and so credit is due to them...Unfortunately, the process for accessing SALNs from the Office of the Ombudsman is quite laborious and ideally it should be reversed at some point. As things presently stand, the burden is currently on members of the public to request the information before the Ombudsman decides whether such a request is legitimate. Requests moreover cannot be blanket ones and may only be submitted one at a time...While it is good there is a very clear process, the process itself is a hindrance. Moreover, the implicit warning that the very act of making the request itself could put the initiator on the wrong side of the law is one very good reason to argue for all SALNs to be put online by the administration as a matter of policy...given the current absence of a law on freedom of information, we at PPTRP would like to see the Office of the Ombudsman think about revising its guidelines governing access. It would be a clear signal that things are finally starting to move in the right direction.