IN LIGHT of the recent developments regarding the pork barrel scam, the presidents of four Philippine universities expressed their “collective condemnation” of the misuse of public funds in a joint statement released on February 12.
The statement was signed by University President Jose Ramon Villarin, SJ, De La Salle University President Bro. Ricardo Laguda, FSC, Miriam College President Rosario Lapus, PhD, and University of the Philippines President Alfredo Pascual.
“We join the sustained clamor of the people to end the deeply-entrenched culture of graft, corruption and patronage in our political system,” the statement read.
The four presidents called for their respective institutions, as well as other schools, to utilize their resources in “analyzing the complex issues related to corruption and public accountability” to promote greater transparency and accountability in the country.
The presidents requested that the Philippine society “take a keen interest in, and to patriotically support, the emergence of the truth and the requisite acts of justice and reparation that must follow from the truth.”
They also asked that the government speed up their investigations of the PDAF scam.
“We ask the institutions tasked by law to ensure transparency and accountability in public service to expedite their investigations of the Napoles-related abuse of public funds and all other such cases of thievery in public service,” the presidents said.
They insisted that the cases against public officials involved in corruption and plunder “be filed and prosecuted with the dispatch due not only the accused and the respondents but the aggrieved and victimized nation even more.”
The presidents added, “As institutions of higher learning, we send word to our nation that we shall keep vigil until the truth is told and we at last are free.”
The statement was made following the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee’s probe of potential state witness Ruby Tuason on January 13 regarding her alleged involvement in the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) controversy. Tuason is a former secretary of Senator Jinggoy Estrada.
