Ex-state execs warn int’l creditors vs helping Arroyo

MANILA, Philippines - The Former Senior Government Officials (FSGOs) on Wednesday warned the international donor community against giving assistance to the Arroyo administration, which is hounded by corruption allegations. The FSGO's seven-page open letter was read before the international donor community during opening of the Philippines Development Forum (PDF) at the Jasmine Function Hall of the Fontana Convention Center inside the Clark Free Port Zone in Pampanga. The letter of the 90-member FSGO to the PDF was read by former national treasurer Leonor Briones during the early morning discussions, a few hours before President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo arrived in to deliver her keynote speech. The forum was attended by officials from the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, International Monetary Fund and representatives from the United Nations, consultants and civil society organizations. The FSGO members cited the case of the national broadband network-ZTE deal and the importance of ferreting out the truth on the alleged $130-million bribes. "We ask our colleagues in the international donor community to consider how the integrity and effectiveness of their assistance programs to the Philippines could be affected if corruption at scale and level of the NBN-ZTE scandal remains unresolved?" the group said. “How could the prestige, credibility and leverage of the donor community be constructively mobilized to help Philippine democratic institutions resolve this scandal?" FGSO also said that Mrs Arroyo is at the “center of corruption and cover up" scandal because she has not taken any action against any government official on the ZTE issue. The group said she is “using her powers with impunity to stave off the unmasking of her participation in the scandal." They said up to now, no one has ever owned up to the irregularities surrounding the NBN-ZTE deal, which has resulted in widespread public disgust. They said Philippine institutions are very weak against corruption, which is “so brazen" and has destroyed public trust in the government. Mrs Arroyo, in her speech at past noon, assured that her government is taking the issue of corruption “very seriously" and that the 2008 budget has allocated billions for the fight against corruption. “As an economist, I know that first and foremost, a strong economy is an economy that is transparent and free from corruption. This budget invests more and more to clean up the culture of corruption that has plagued the nation for generations," she said. “On our part, we will hold officials accountable if they are found to be corrupt after due process. Let the chips fall where they may as investigations are concluded, and friend and foe alike are brought to account for their actions in the proper courts," she also said. Mrs Arroyo said she has called on Congress to pass a comprehensive Anti-Corruption Reform Act, doubled the budget of the Ombudsman which raised its conviction rate to nearly 60 percent, established the Procurement Transparency Group, which his monitoring 40 priority and official development assistance projects, and ordered the creation of watchdog bodies in the Bureaus of Customs and Internal Revenues. She asked the creditor community to work with the government in standardizing ODA loan conditionality. She said government will apply the targeted spending for ODA in areas such as health programs, reforestation, early childhood education, grade school classrooms, vocational education, high school and college scholarships, teacher training in English, and graduate courses in science, technology and engineering. Mrs Arroyo said the Philippines is at the “tipping point" of moving forward and is “well-positioned" to weather a global economic slowdown. “The slowing of the economies in North America and Europe is top of mind in our calculations to protect our own economy," she said. She said the 2008 budget, which is a balanced budget, would play a great deal in this goal by mitigating the effects of the slowdown. - GMANews.TV