The General Alliance of Workers Association (GAWA) on Sunday, Feb. 9, called on anti-corruption advocates and likeminded individuals to campaign for the reactivation of the People’s Graftwatch in Bacolod City.
The People’s Graftwatch was headed by Dr. Patricio Tan who achieved notable gains in combating graft and corruption in the government until 1990, Wennie Sancho, GAWA secretary general said in a press release on Sunday, Feb. 9.
Graftwatch served as a frontdesk in receiving and facilitating request for assistance, complaints, or reports of any anomalous or corrupt practices by referring these complaints to the Office of the Ombudsman in the Visayas, he said.
Graftwatch served as a Corruption Prevention Unit (CPU) that broadened community participation by serving as the eyes and ears of the Ombudsman in closely monitoring critical and substantially funded government projects or transactions, Sancho said.
There is an urgent need to reactivate Graftwatch and other corruption prevention units before we will be swallowed by the specter of corruption, Sancho said.*