Jamby's 1st act if elected president: audit all govt agencies

Independent presidential candidate Sen. Maria Ana Consuelo “Jamby" Madrigal has vowed to prioritize an audit of all government departments as the very first item on her agenda if she is elected as the country’s next chief executive in the coming May polls. An extensive audit of government departments would be the first step she will take to fight corruption under her administration, Madrigal said in an interview in GMA 7's Kandidato. “Ipapa-audit ko lahat ng departments… Parating sinasabi, may kakulangan ang pondo. Para sa akin, hindi tama iyon. May kumukuha ng pondo kaya kumukulang (I will order an audit of all departments. It's always said there's a shortage of funds. But for me, that's wrong. Somebody is pocketing these funds, that’s why there’s shortage)," she said.
Madrigal added that she wants to give priority to publication, but that means requiring the Department of Education (DepEd) to be the one of the first government agencies to undergo an extensive audit. “Kailangan i-audit ang Department of Education kasi napakalaki (ng perang) napupunta lang sa corruption ng textbooks at iba’t iba pang program (The DepEd should be audited since huge amounts of money go to corruption in textbooks and other programs)," she said. The senator likewise said that she will order an audit and publicly disclose appropriations of the special purpose fund in the national budget, which the President has the liberty to allocate to different government agencies. “Para sa akin, itong special purpose funds, gusto kong ipa-audit at ilagay natin sa Internet kung saan pupunta ‘yan. Gusto ko pure transparency (I want to audit these special purpose funds and have the allocations posted on the Internet. I want pure transparency)," she said. Madrigal also said she will abolish the pork barrel once elected to the presidency as part of her programs against corruption. ‘The big fish’ Madrigal, who is currently running a solo campaign, also promised to stop corruption in government by running after “the big fish," including President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. In the same interview, the senator accused Mrs. Arroyo of asking to divert funds for street children to one of the President’s foundations, the Lualhati Foundation, in 1999. “Hindi naman gaano kalaki. Meron lang kaming iilang milyon… Gusto pa niyang ilihis ko para malagay sa Lualhati Foundation (The amount is not really big. We only had a few millions. She wanted me to divert the money to the Lualhati Foundation)," she said. Madrigal said prosecuting Mrs. Arroyo is one of her concrete plans to combat corruption during her term. C-5 report as greatest achievement In Kandidato, Madrigal likewise said that she considers filing an ethics complaint against fellow presidential aspirant, Sen. Manuel Villar Jr., as one of her greatest achievements in her political career. (See: Senate starts hearing ethics complaint vs Villar) Madrigal, known to be a staunch Villar critic, even called the Nacionalista Party (NP) standard-bearer as “the face of corruption" during the interview. “’Yung hinabla kong kaso kay Senator Villar ay isa sa pinakamalaki na, kasi sabi na masisira ka sa pulitika, babatikusin ka. Sabi ko, titiisin ko lahat para lumabas ang katotohanan para hindi niya lokohin ang taong bayan," she said. (One of my greatest achievements would have to be the time I filed a complaint against Senator Villar, since a lot of people were telling me that it will destroy me politically, or draw criticism against me. I told them that I will face everything to get the truth out so he can no longer fool the people.) Madrigal also said that gathering 12 signatures in support of her ethics complaint against Villar was one of the happiest moments in her life. The senator added that filing a complaint against Villar is her way of warning the Filipino people of a presidential candidate who she said will be a worse president than Mrs. Arroyo. “Mas nakakatakot kasi. Kung si GMA (Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo) masamang pangulo, mas magiging masamang pangulo pa si Villar bilang secret candidate ni GMA. Nakakatakot po ‘yun," she said. (It would be more scary. If GMA [Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo] is a bad president, Villar as GMA's secret candidate would be a worse president. That makes it more scary.) - RJAB Jr./JV, GMANews.TV