MANILA -- Secretary Carlos Dominguez III has ordered all offices of the Department of Finance (DOF) and its attached agencies to closely coordinate with the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) in helping catch the big fishes involved in high-stakes, white-collar crimes, the finance chief revealed in a statement on Thursday.
Dominguez also called on the PACC led by Dante Jimenez, who is founding chairman of the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC), to focus its investigations on these big fishes involved in anomalous government contracts so it can make prudent use of its limited time and resources in the remaining half of the Duterte presidency.
“We have limited amount of time. I'm not saying we should not go after the small ones, but you know, if you only have so much time, we better go after the big ones first kasi maraming epekto sa economy (because of its many effects on the economy),” Dominguez said during a recent briefing held by the PACC for DOF officials.
The PACC has been instructed by President Duterte to make the rounds of government offices to inform public officials and employees of the Commission’s mandate and mission.
“Focus on the big target, focus on the big things. We cannot do everything. Just focus on the big ones and try to really catch them,” Dominguez added.
Dominguez said catching the big fishes would send a strong message to small-time crooks that the government means business--and will remain relentless--in its campaign against corruption in keeping with the President's directive.
Jimenez, for his part, welcomed the Finance chief’s suggestions. “I think Mr. Secretary that's a very good input for us now so that in the coming days, we will be studying all these things in our en banc meeting,” Jimenez said.
Dominguez cautioned them, though, that the most difficult job would be catching the big-time crooks because of the devious, smart ways they have employed to hide their shenanigans.
“Those guys who bribe people to look the other way, who give them nice contracts, who give them concessions for many, many years, who let them make money for no risk. That's a big, big corruption crime. But you have to be really be very smart, you have to be smarter than them to catch them because it's white-collar crime,” Dominguez said.
Dominguez said he believes corruption in the bureaucracy emanates from three instances: When you collect taxes and other revenues; when you spend public funds; and when state officials and employees turn away and approve projects that are grossly disadvantageous to the government but highly beneficial for certain people.
The Bureaus of Internal Revenue (BIR) and of Customs (BOC), for example, collect an average of about P2.8 trillion combined per year, which represents 98 percent of all government collections. “So, there is obviously room for corruption there,” Dominguez said.
He said that in the DOF, its Revenue Integrity Protection Service (RIPS), which Undersecretary Bayani Agabin oversees, conducts lifestyle checks among employees of the Department and its attached agencies to help curb corruption.
The DOF-attached agencies, such as the BIR, BOC, Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) and the Bureau of Local Government Finance (BGLF) also have their respective internal affairs units, Dominguez said.
He told Jimenez the PACC could coordinate with Agabin, who is the undersecretary for legal affairs, and the heads of the other DOF offices and attached agencies.
“We'll give you a full list with the names of the people (in the DOF and its attached agencies) involved in your type of work so that we can have close coordination,” Dominguez told Jimenez during the briefing. (DOF PR)
