Saying NO to another Euro Generals controversy!

iKUWADERNO.com | By Senator Mar Roxas I have filed Senate Bill No. 2982, or the proposed Government Employees Official Travel Accountability Act of 2009, to discourage a recurrence of the "Euro Generals Scandal", which brought international infamy to the country. It soughts more transparency and accountability in the use of public funds for the foreign travels of government officials and employees, including those in the uniformed service. Let us make sure the Moscow scandal does not happen again. The world had glimpsed how corrupt our government is. Let us correct how our leaders waste the people's money, especially for the foreign travels of officials and employees. I am referring to the arrest of retired police comptroller Eliseo dela Paz and his wife in Russia in October last year for their non-disclosure of 105,000 Euros (P6.9 million) that they brought to Moscow when they attended an Interpol meeting. Dela Paz, during the Senate hearings into the scandal, has claimed the money was drawn from the Philippine National Police's (PNP) confidential and intelligence funds, supposedly for the purchase of intelligence equipment. The incident drew flak from us senators, who condemned the PNP leadership's lenience in the release of its intelligence funds and raised questions on the procedure by which such funds are disbursed. We have witnessed how government officials waste the people's money. We have discovered how they used official foreign travels as a scheme to steal from the government coffers. I am seeking to lay down specific guidelines for the authorized foreign trips of all public officials, such as prohibiting government officials or employees from joining travels abroad one year before his/her retirement, and define the allowable travel expenses for such travels. The bill likewise mandates the disclosure of the full amount of foreign currency brought into or out of the country in the course of the official trip.