If a country is to be corruption free and become a nation of beautiful minds, I strongly feel there are three key societal members who can make a difference. They are the father, the mother and the teacher.
— Indian statesman Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam

MAYPAJO, Caloocan City — On May 12, our people will choose the leaders they believe would help our country preserve democracy and uplifting the lives of our fellow Filipinos. In doing so, however, voters must choose the right candidates that would lend voice to their needs and aspirations.
This is part of the reason why it is important to discern whom to vote. It won't be easy as each candidate will promise to serve with honesty and credibility in order to gain voter support.
But can we trust them?
Particularly important is giving the people truthful representation in Congress—and what better way than electing party-list aspirants to the House of Representatives who truly represent the marginalized sectors of our society.
But among the 156 party-list groups, only a few are in reality the voice of the people. Most of them are incumbents whom we have seen how they perform in vocalizing the people's will and in legislating laws that will benefit every Filipino. This may be a worrisome situation as many have failed in this goal.
Still, there are some who truly represent the people and among them is the party-list group known as the Ang Bumbero ng Pilipinas (ABP), led by its president and first nominee Jose Antonio 'Ka Pep' Goitia, whose group is now steadily gaining support while climbing the top 20 list of organizations vying for a seat in the House of Representatives.
ABP is at 14th spot in the list released by the survey group Tangere and Goitia feels his group will get to be among the top 10 as its political platform aims to genuinely promote a legislative agenda that will focus on the welfare of our firefighters and rescuers who lay their lives on the line to safeguard the citizenry in all times of peril and disasters.
But that is not the only goal ABP and Goitia have in mind. The promotion of economic reforms and the elimination of corruption in government are aspects of legislation the group and its first nominee is wanting to initiate in order for true development and progress is achieved for the more than 110 million Filipinos whose voices desiruously want to be heard in the next Congress.

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WE'VE seen and heard a lot of talk about individuals, officials and government agencies being accused of rampant corruption but not his really being done to mitigate, if not stop or eliminate them from continuing with their nefarious activities, so much so that experts are saying that it is not people discovering corruption and filing cases that will best minimize graft in both the private and public sectors of our society but rather an effective system that would catch and penalize the culprits.
But although both the arrest of the corrupt and setting up of anti-corruption systems are helpful, the latter appears to be more efficient and effective in fighting corruption. In addition, the corrupt will think twice if they know there are preventive systems in place that would unearth their criminal activities.
Last Feb. 12, this became evident when a document from the public-private Philippine Council for Agriculture and Fisheries (PCAF) entitled '2024 Participatory Marking and Thinking: Consolidated Report' described how a system could both catch and prevent wastage of public and private funds through corruption.
The document, however, emphasizes that the essential factor for the system's success is participation of the private sector in the effort.
The Agri-Fisheries Alliance (AFA), composed of coalitions from the three sectors of farmers and fisherfolk, agribusiness and science and academe, has previously argued that the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) would be detrimental to farmers and fisherfolk unless conditionalities were met—the key conditional it being the proper use of the agriculture budget through private sector monitoring.
AFA pointed out that the Commission on Audit (CoA) had reported that the Department of Agriculture (DA) had one-third of its expenses either unliquidated or unexplained for 2019, 2020 and 2021. This fund misuse had to stop, especially if a more free trade regime, like RCEP, is entered into so we could compete on a level field.
The private sector monitoring conditionality was approved by the Senate on February 21, 2023 and on Mr. Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr.’s assumption as agriculture secretary on November 3, 2023, the AFA asked about the government’s sincerity because this conditionality had not been implemented. Only two months later, on January 24, 2024, did the good agri chief made this happen: a report stated that the secretary “instructed the submission of the updated list of the 2023 completed DA-funded programs/projects” for private sector for monitoring.
This would be done in a system that other departments should consider adopting. This includes identifying the type of project where the discrepancy occurs, the causes for this discrepancy, the source responsible for the discrepancy and the area where it occurs. In all of these, private sector participation is indispensable for transparency and accountability. Otherwise, if the government monitors its own actions by itself, there may be the whitewashing that often occurs.
Determining the causes for this discrepancy will lead the government to identify conditions that must be required before any grant is given. But the main problem with government grants is that they are given carelessly with little accountability. Thus, it results in massive waste as corruption sets in.

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FOR your comments or suggestions, complaints or requests, just send a message through my email at cipcab2006@yahoo.com or text me at cellphone numbers 09171656792 or 09171592256 during office hours from Monday to Friday. Thank you and mabuhay!