The campaign against graft and corruption is the biggest casualty in the ongoing “war” between Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez and Special Prosecutor Dennis Villa-Ignacio.

The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) is being squeezed: it is understaffed, compromising its prosecutorial and investigative capacity.

Villa-Ignacio told abs-cbnnews.com/Newsbreak that the OSP is not operating in full capacity because the vacancies for prosecutors are not being filled up.

“At present, there are 113 vacancies for lawyers. To include the support staff, there are a total of 153 vacancies,” Villa-Ignacio said. He added that only 72 prosecutorial positions have been filled up.

Despite having the budget and the obvious need to beef up its ranks, Gutierrez, for some reason, imposed a no-hiring order this year. The no-hiring policy has resulted to savings of P69 million, as of July, to the OSP.

Savings of independent Constitutional bodies such as the Ombudsman are not returned to the national treasury.

“Compared to the hundreds of millions lost to graft, the savings do not amount to anything,” Villa-Ignacio said. It was earlier reported that government loses P260 billion a year to corruption.

But Assistant Ombudsman Mark Jalandoni, in a separate interview, debunked the no-hiring policy. He explained that recruitment is ongoing and that the delay in filling up of positions is due to the stringent screening process.

Tony Kwok, during his time at the Ombudsman’s office, batted for the hiring of more prosecutors and investigators. Kwok, who used to head Hongkong’s Independent Commission Against Corruption, has ceased to be an adviser to the Ombudsman.

EU grant, MCC

The hiring of Kwok was tied to the 2.9 million euro grant given by the European Commission (EC) to the Ombudsman to boost its anti-corruption drive. The grant, spread in two years, was given in 2005.

But we learned that the European Union’s (EU) new program of activities next year has excluded the Ombudsman’s Office from among its beneficiaries. We also learned from a source familiar with the Ombudsman’s office that the EU is dissatisfied with the results of the anti-corruption projects it funded.

However, Alistair Macdonald, head of the delegation of the European Commission to the Philippines, told us that the EU is still set to review the programs it had funded in the last few years, including the anti-corruption projects in collaboration with the Ombudsman

He added that the EU’s focus is now on education, health and assistance in Mindanao.
 
On another front, the failure of the Philippines to pass the criteria set by the Millennium Challenge Corp. (MCC) in obtaining large-scale grant funding from its Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) next year is because of its dismal anti-corruption performance.

The MCA, funded by the US government, is an incentive given to developing countries practicing good governance. In 2006, the country got a US$21-million grant from the MCC Threshold Program to fight corruption.

The Philippines had hoped to be elevated to the MCC compact status, which will make it eligible to obtain $60 million to $700 million in grants.

But in its assessment report, the country flunked in areas of corruption, health expenditure, and primary education. It also noted the country’s continuing slide in controlling corruption, from 76 percent in fiscal year 2007, to 57 percent in fiscal year 2008 and 47 percent in 2009.

Low conviction rate
 
Gutierrez, in an interview with reporters, insisted that the Ombudsman is doing its job. “For 2009, we will even double our efforts to fight graft and corruption—hopefully with the help and cooperation of other agencies.”

Exactly how, she did not spell out.

In response to criticisms of its low conviction rate this year, the Ombudsman engaged in a public relations blitz, claiming high conviction rate in the last few months. Some are unconvinced.

One of them is Senator Francis Pangilinan, who challenged the Ombudsman to be transparent in its reporting. He referred to conflicting reports of the Sandiganbayan that the Ombudsman’s conviction rate is not as astounding as it was made to appear.

Pangilinan cited, for instance, the September report where the Ombudsman claimed having secured a batting average of 26.73 percent conviction rate from January to July. But the Sandiganbayan noted that the actual figure should only be 10.34 percent. The Ombudsman computation failed to factor those cases dismissed, withdrawn by prosecutors and those archived.

"How can the Ombudsman and the Sandiganbayan have conflicting records when it comes to the agency's conviction rate? Let us not deceive the public with figures that don't speak of the real condition of our justice system. We need to be transparent as to how many convicted officials are actually punished and are made to pay for their acts. If the Ombudsman wants a good reputation, it should stop painting a rosy picture of the situation,” Pangilinan said.

As of Oct. 31, data from the Sandiganbayan showed 349 cases disposed of since January, of which 25 resulted to conviction. This means the conviction rate has gone down to seven percent.

In clarifying the Ombudsman’s claim of conviction rate, Jalandoni said they actually used the formula of the MCA in computing the conviction rate.  “It’s the number of conviction over the number of dismissal multiplied by 100,” Jalandoni said. Based on this formula, the conviction rate was 80 percent in October and 90 percent in November,  Jalandoni said. Overall, for the 11-month period, Jalandoni said the conviction rate is 61 percent.

Out to get his head
 
Jalandoni strongly denied suggestions that the conflict had affected the campaign against grafters. If at all, he said it has had an effect only on public perception that the war against corruption is not being won.

As for the MCC assessment, “we scored high in the targets but narrowly missed by .01 percent the median in the perception,” which explains why the country flunked in the area of corruption, he said.

To address the perception problem, the Ombudsman will be engaging in disseminating information “that we are serious in fighting corruption,” Jalandoni said. A weekly press conference is being planned next year to update the public on the Ombudsman’s campaign, he added.

Based on the 2008 perception report of Transparency International, the Philippines slid from 131st to 141st among 180 countries in corruption perception.

Jalandoni said that “internally, the Ombudsman and the Deputy Special Prosecutors became more cohesive” when the issue between Gutierrez and Villa-Ignacio broke out.

Villa-Ignacio had claimed that the Ombudsman is out to get his head and was behind the estafa case filed by a former subordinate to force him to resign.

Our sources have hinted that the plot to oust Villa-Ignacio has something to do with Malacañang’s plan to install a friendlier Special Prosecutor before Arroyo bows out of office in 2010. Villa-Ignacio’s term ends in Feb. 14, 2010, and could possibly be covered by the election ban in the hiring of appointees to government. This would prevent Arroyo from naming an OSP that would be loyal to her.

But Jalandoni said there is no premeditated move to oust Villa-Ignacio. “Our focus is on our job,” he said.

Villa-Ignacio, who led the successful prosecution of former President Estrada for plunder, said Gutierrez and her allies are bent in removing her and that an order is now being circulated for signing among the Deputy Ombudsmen for his preventive suspension while the estafa case against him has not yet been resolved.

Jalandoni said he is not aware of the status of Villa-Ignacio’s estafa case, except that it is under preliminary investigation.

Villa-Ignacio said he would stick to his post, no matter what.
 
Gutierrez, for her part, has been battling negative perceptions since she became Ombudsman. In the matter of public perception, half of the war on corruption has already been lost.