MANILA, Philippines - The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) is now offering a minimum of P50,000 cash reward to whoever provides vital information on illegal activities of the agency’s officials and personnel.
Two senators also welcomed yesterday the conduct of lifestyle checks on all government officials as a way to ensure that public servants are not involved in corrupt practices.
TESDA director general Guiling Mamondiong said the agency would now give rewards to tipsters to help empower the public in assisting the government in its intensified anti-corruption drive and weed out dirty deeds in the agency.
“The bounty to be offered to the tipsters will depend on the gravity of the offense committed by the agency officials and personnel. We will not tolerate the illegal activities of our officials and personnel who want to enrich themselves at the expense of the services of the agency,” Mamondiong said.
He explained tipsters would receive cash rewards outright once the agency has established that their testimonies and pieces of evidence were sufficient and substantial to prosecute those accused.
The TESDA official, who was in Baguio City, also revealed he has started talking to officials and personnel with pending cases before the ombudsman for them to resign.
Many of those involved in graft cases have voluntarily resigned from the agency, Mamondiong said.
He admitted he had been receiving reports over the past years on the involvement of officials and employees in illegal activities and transactions with technical-vocational education institutions in relation to alleged ghost scholars.
Mamondiong warned TESDA officials and employees they would face stringent penalties once their illegal activities are uncovered.
Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III said all public servants should welcome the lifestyle checks.
“If you have nothing to hide then you have nothing to be afraid of,” Sotto said over radio dwIZ.
Sotto said officials should not even be bothered by wiretapping if they are confident of being clean.
But he said that the best way to ensure transparency in government, more than the lifestyle checks, would be to enact the freedom of information (FOI) law that had long been stuck in the legislative mill.
“That is why we are rushing to approve the FOI so that anyone can ask for the records of our officials at any time,” Sotto said.
The Senate has been able to approve its version of the FOI in the previous Congresses but that was as far as it got in Congress because the House of Representatives had always failed to support the measure.
Sen. Joseph Victor Ejercito also aired his support for the conduct of lifestyle checks on government officials, which he said would help encourage a life of strict discipline. – With Marvin Sy