Responsible Governance

Sustainable Governance is responsible governance. From the period of the 1980s, the campaign for sustainable governance started gaining ground.

The concept of meritocracy in the bureaucracy became popular in the 1990s with the powerful advocacy of author Dr. Rolando A. Carbonell. A large conglomeration of leaders of social thought have also espoused the reduction of corruption in Philippine Society. Among these is former President Fidel Valdez Ramos -FVR, his close confidante and aide Gen. Jose Tan Almonte and Judge Dolores Español, the Philippine Convenor of the worldwide anti-corruption agency, Transparency International e.v.

Judge Español and former Office of the President Undersecretary Marietta Primicias Goco forcefully pushed the agenda of fighting graft and corruption through the establishment of the Transparency International Philippines chapter and the Moral Recovery Program or MRP, government wide.

Judge Dolores Español 

 Pres. Fidel Valdez Ramos

Ms. Marieta Primicias Goco

Prof. Roland Carbonell 

The foremost weapon of Ms. Goco were resource speakers from the Bramah Kumaris Moral Spiritual Movement Philippines chapter and Dr. Antonio Roldan – a specialist in organizational and management development, modeling and executive and staff capability development. MRP was widely propagated in the incumbency of former Pres. FVR.

Parallel with the MRP, the august OPUS DEI organization also fostered the wide conscientization campaign vs. corruption by disseminating broadly the concept of Islands of Integrity under the belief that a growing cadre of conscientious individuals in society will gradually create a groundswell of support.

There is a need for these initiatives to continue, grow and translate into concrete actions, policies, programs and priorities in Philippine society and government.

If government will fully embrace the task of widening the islands of integrity within the bureaucracy, it is certain that with the seeds planted by the pioneering individuals and groups in the country, the fortifying of our institutions against the decay and corrosion of graft and corruption will be guaranteed.

Related Articles:

Asian Human Rights Commission: Fighting corruption from the bottom

Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism 70% Local health care funds lost to corruption

A P A C H A Net Governance and Corruption in public health care systems

Pinoy Daily Journals 3rd anti-corruption rally in the Philippines

Philippine Star  Rally vs. Corruption, Pork Barrel

Yahoo News Hundreds gather for rally against corruption