THE Department of Finance (DOF) has launched an “Information against Corruption” page on its website, in support of President Rodrigo Duterte’s directive to weed out grafters in the bureaucracy.
In a statement, the DOF said the page is accessible under the Advocacies/Anti-Corruption menu of its website.
It said the page allows the public to submit any information that they may have against officers and personnel of the DOF and its attached agencies such as the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and Bureau of Customs (BOC) – who might own properties or live lifestyles grossly disproportionate to their lawful incomes.
“This initiates the power of the Secretary of Finance under Executive Order (EO) No. 259 series of 2003 to investigate such information, submit the findings to the Office of the Ombudsman and ask for the criminal prosecution and dismissal from the service of errant officials and personnel,” the DOF said.
“Traditionally, any information on suspected corruption needs to be reported to the DOF face to face, but with the ongoing pandemic, this online tool allows the public to safely submit information directly to the DOF through their mobile devices,” it added.
The Finance department noted that though the anti-corruption page is not officially a part of the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Mega Task Force created a few weeks ago to investigate graft, it has heeded the call of the President to curb corruption through its Revenue Integrity Protection Service (RIPS) team.
Finance secretary Carlos Dominguez III has informed Justice secretary Menardo Guevarra about the RIPS anti-corruption team, which is mandated to detect, investigate and prevent corruption under the DOF, BIR, BOC and all other DOF-attached agencies.
“In light of the memorandum of President Duterte directing the Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate allegations of corruption in the entire bureaucracy, this Department shall be pleased to extend its assistance which your department may need,” Dominguez said in his letter to Guevarra.
“(The RIPS) has the authority to gather evidence and file the appropriate criminal, civil or administrative complaints against government officials and employees in the said offices before the appropriate court, or administrative body and actively assist in the prosecution of the cases,” Dominguez added.
Since July 2016, the DOF said the RIPS has initiated investigations against 384 officials and employees of the DOF and its attached agencies.
It said the RIPS was able to secure successful resolutions against 57 individuals charged before the Civil Service Commission and the Office of the Ombudsman, 14 of whom were ordered dismissed from the service. (GMA News)
