OMBUDSMAN CHEAP TACTICS

Childish and very cheap tactics. ­­­This is what the Ombudsman is all capable of. Shame, shame, shame!

Yesterday, I received an email from the U.N. Organization on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) saying that the Transparency and Accountability Network received an objection from a state party and by that, will not be able to participate in the Conference of State Parties of the U.N. Convention Against Corruption in Amman, Jordan.

Who else could have objected to TAN’s participation?!?! Hmmm… as far as I know, we have not obtained international status yet. For other countries TAN is non-existent. So you bet, it was the Philippines who objected to TAN’s participation.

Who could be behind this objection, I wonder? Uh-duh! It’s only the Ombudsman who can’t seem to stand TAN’s presence…. a reminder of guilt perhaps.

“It’s My Party.” The Tanodbayan seems to think that anti-corruption work is like a birthday party. She will invite whomever she likes and isolate the ones she doesn’t. How childish! She will only attend anti-corruption fora attended by her good company… Or she’ll secretly manipulate the invitees of the forum before she will even participate. How convenient! Now, she’s wearing this spoiled brat behavior for the international community to see.

Magnifying the Issue. The Philippines is the only state party to the UNCAC that objected civil society participation (specifically TAN) in the Conference of State Parties (COSP), which will be held in December 8-14. An international coalition of civil society organizations called UNICORN obviously noticed this. Some way to get international attention! Apparently, UNICORN had been very vigilant about civil society participation.

Shamelessly violating the spirit of UNCAC. One of the big promises of the U.N. Convention Against Corruption is Rule 17: Civil Society Participation. The Philippines just recently ratified the Convention – November 6 – thus becoming a state party to the Convention. First step to getting UNCAC implemented in the Philippines and the state is failing already. First official act is an objection to the participation of a civil society organization (Transparency and Accountability Network) to the Conference of State Parties?!?! Whaaaaat?!?! This is some way of appreciating the concept of civil society participation!

Shame, shame, shame! This is obscenely cheap for the Ombudsman! Very cheap!