Christine Cudis/Philippine News Agency
MANILA — Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) Secretary John R. Castriciones on Tuesday reiterated his call for third-level officials of the agency to undergo voluntary lifestyle checks in another action towards eliminating graft and corruption within its ranks.
“In the exigency of the service and in line with the directive of the President to eradicate systemic graft and corruption in all branches of government service, all third level officials are encouraged to be subjected to a voluntary lifestyle check,” said the DAR chief in a memorandum order dated April 30.
Submitted requests for lifestyle checks shall be collected by the DAR-Office of the Secretary and submitted to the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC), according to the DAR Memorandum Order No. 3, Series of 2019.
At present, 89 officials have already given their concurrence for a voluntary lifestyle check.
Third-level officials include undersecretaries, assistant secretaries, directors, and assistant directors.
Since the start of the year, Castriciones has doubled down on his efforts to weed out erring officials and corrupt practices in the DAR.
In March, DAR Legal Services Director Marvin Bernal and Internal Audit Service Director Alexander Alimuddin Ali took their oath as deputies of the PACC to assist the group in the investigation of cases in the Department’s jurisdiction.
PACC Chairman Dante Jimenez said the newly-appointed deputies from various agencies would assist and help the commission evaluate cases as well as police their own ranks to ensure public accountability and good governance.
The commission’s initiative to deputize the agencies is pursuant to Executive Order 43 granting the PACC the power to enlist their support to assist in the investigation of cases falling within their respective jurisdictions.
Earlier this year, Castriciones also created an anti-corruption task force in support of the initiatives of Duterte to combat corruption in government.
Castriciones directed the DAR Anti-Corruption Task Force to conduct thorough investigations into information received by the Department and enjoined DAR employees to cooperate in this drive against corruption. (
