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Philippine Star

Asian parliamentarians to join forces vs corruption

By Christina Mendez - March 11, 2005

Lawmakers across the Southeast Asian region have joined forces in putting up a regional organization that will fight graft and corruption, Sen. Edgardo Angara announced yesterday.

Angara said parliamentarians from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have decided to form a common front against the graft and corruption plaguing member countries.

Senate President Franklin Drilon said Filipino lawmakers will have the chance to meet their counterparts from all over the world in two international conferences set this month until the first week of April.

Drilon said the senators would also have the chance to meet Swiss lawmakers to discuss the pending ratification of the RP-Swiss Treaty on Mutual Legal Assistance on Criminal Matters in separate bilateral talks on the 112^th Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) general assembly in Manila from April 3-9.

Drilon said the signing of the treaty is important since it will strengthen the country’s ties with the Swiss government in the bid to create mechanisms to boost the campaign of the Philippine government over ill-gotten wealth stashed in several Swiss bank accounts.

“The treaty is expected to strengthen cooperation between the Philippines and Switzerland in the fight against transnational crimes, particularly terrorism, organized crime, government corruption, as well as facilitate cooperation on legal matters involving nationals of both countries,” Drilon said.

The Swiss government will be sending a 12-member delegation to attend the IPU General Assembly.

Separate bilateral talks between Filipino and Swiss lawmakers will be held to discuss the RP-Swiss treaty.

Angara, meanwhile, said the plan to create a regional body against corruption would be a major part of the agenda of the meeting of ASEAN parliamentarians on March 31 to April 1.

Angara, who represents the ASEAN parliamentarians in the executive committee of the Ottawa-based Global Organization of Parliamentarians Against Corruption (GOPAC), said ASEAN lawmakers would set up the Southeast Asian Parliamentarians Against Corruption (SEAPAC) which would have a major role in fighting corruption in the region through legislation and advocacy work.

The organizing conference is also expected to ratify the United Nations Convention Against Corruption that was signed in 2003. The UN Convention was a direct result of the body’s realization that there should be more effective legal instruments for fighting corruption on a global scale.

The Manila Bulletin

RP to host ASEAN regional conference against corruption

By Joseph G. Lariosa - March 11, 2005

The Philippines will play host for the first time at the end of this month to a two-day First ASEAN Regional Conference of Parliamentarians Against Corruption at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC).

This was announced yesterday by Sen. Edgardo J. Angara, the Asian representative of the Global Organization of Parliament Against Corruption based at Ottawa, Canada.

At least 30 delegates from 10 countries from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), representing the parliaments of those countries, are expected to attend the regional event.

The countries expected to send their delegates are the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Cambodia, Indonesia, Singapore, Brunei, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand.

Angara said the main agenda of the conference that opens on March 31 is to adopt a standard that will jibe with the United Nations Convention Against Corruption that has been ratified by 16 of 30 signatory countries.

Angara asked retired Judge Dolores L. Español of the regional trial court of Cavite to take the lead in organizing the conference in her capacity as chairperson of Transparency International of the Philippines chapter.

Among the delegates from the Philippines are Ombudsman Simeon Marcelo; Purificacion Valera-Quisumbing, chairwoman of the Commission on Human Rights; Jack Jabes of the Asian Development Bank’s anti-corruption program; Senate President Franklin M. Drilon and House Speaker Jose de Venecia.

"The delegates to the conference would probably pay a courtesy call on President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on the last day of the conference," Español said.

"We cannot expect 100 percent attendance from ASEAN member countries because a few of them don’t have parliaments," Angara said. "But we need to start somewhere, somehow." He is referring to Brunei and Myanmar (formerly Burma), which have no parliaments.

"We expect at least three anti-corruption legislators to be sent by their respective countries," Angara added.

The Manila Times

Anticorruption summit in Manila in April

March 11, 2005

Legislators from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) will converge in Manila on March 31 and April 1 to formally organize a regional anticorruption organization, Senator Edgardo J. Angara said Thursday.

Angara said the proposed Southeast Asian Parliamentarians Against Corruption (Seapac) would take a major role in fighting corruption in the region through legislation and advocacy work.

"This will be a great boost to the fight against corruption in the Asean region, especially to the Philippines, which has been ranked as the second most corrupt country in Asia by the Political and Economic Risj\k Consultancy Ltd.," he said.

Angara said the conference is also expected to ratify a United Nations Convention Against Corruption which was signed in 2003 because of the need for more effective legal instruments in fighting corruption on a global scale.

Parliamentarians from the region, according to Angara, would cooperate to track down and seize proceeds from graft and corruption practices.

"Even the effort to clean the political system of dirty money and corrupt election practices is within the scope of work defined by the UN Convention," Angara said.

He has filed a number of political reform bills meant to ban turncoatism and reduce the cost of elections and prevent political parties from accepting dirty or laundered money from gambling lords, drug traffickers and other members of crime syndicates.

Angara also sponsored the passage of the Government Procurement Act in Congress, which reformed the obsolete and graft-prone rules on public bidding and procurement of services and supplies.

The Daily Tribune

Asean members to help fight corruption, money laundering

Friday, March 11, 2005

Parliamentarians from across the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) have joined forces to fight corruption and government waste and will meet in Manila on March 31 and April 1 to formally organize a potent regional anti-corruption organization.

Sen. Edgardo Angara yesterday said the move will be a great boost to fight corruption in the Asean region, specifically to the Philippines, which has been ranked as the 2nd most corrupt country in Asia by the Political and Economic Risk Consultancy Ltd. (PERC), a risk analysis firm.

Angara, who represents the Asean parliamentarians in the Executive Committee of the Ottawa-based Global Organization of Parliamentarians Against Corruption (GOPAC), said the Southeast Asian Parliamentarians Against Corruption, (SEAPAC) will take a major role in fighting corruption in the region through legislation and advocacy work.

The organizing conference is also expected to ratify a United Nations Convention Against Corruption which was signed in 2003. The UN Convention was a direct result of the body's realization that there should be more effective legal instruments in fighting corruption on a global scale.

"This will be a big step for the region and a bigger step for the Philippines, a country plagued by corruption," Angara said.
Angara added with the formal organization of SEAPAC, parliamentarians from the region can now fight corruption from several fronts and collectively as a group.

The work includes ensuring transparency in the use of public funds, fighting money-laundering, curbing obstruction of justice and helping non-governmental organizations make people aware of the cancer of corruption.

He noted parliamentarians can now work on a regional level to set the legal environment to enable governments to track down and seize proceeds from graft and corrupt practices.