Five bills against corruption have been endorsed to House Speaker Lord Allan Velasco to be included in the legislative agenda of the House of Representatives.
Solons claim that the proposed laws are in response to the intensified battle waged by President Rodrigo Duterte against corruption.
Among the proposed laws is House Bill No. 7230 seeking to augment “financial resources of the Office of the Ombudsman by giving it a 30 percent share in any property forfeited in favor of the State” under the Forfeiture Law.
House Bill Nos. 581 and 6003 will also require the “inclusion of anti-corruption and governance education in the basic education and higher education curriculum, respectively.”
House Bill No. 967 is also pursuing the protection and benefits for people who report corrupt officials and will become witnesses for prosecution, while House Bill No. 579 wants the creation of a National Independent Commission Against Corruption (NICAC) “as an attached agency of the Office of the Ombudsman.”
“We hope that we can gear towards the passage of these bills before this year ends, or early next year,” House Majority Leader Rep. Martin Romualdez stated.
Romualdez is expecting the bills to quell government problems on red tape and graft. These are now pending in the committee level. – Report from Daniel Manalastas
