GOPAC ~ SEAPAC

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.

GOPAC ~ SEAPAC