Name corrupt POEA execs, Bello urged

THE Lilac Center for Public Interest, Inc. on Wednesday urged Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello 3rd to name the officials of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) who he alleged are profiting from corrupt activities involving the issuance of overseas employment certificates (OECs).

“In a week, Secretary Bello’s D.O. 185 suspending the application and issuance of OECs is expiring. By now, the investigative team headed by Undersecretary Bernard Olalia should have been already wrapping up its investigation. It is time the Secretary should be serious in action, not words, and name the POEA officials engaged in peddling OECs for profit,” said Lilac Center president Nicon F. Fameronag, a former DOLE undersecretary.

Fameronag said this is the second investigation on the alleged OEC corruption yet the alleged corrupt POEA officials have yet to be identified.

“Unlike President ( Rodrigo) Duterte, why is Sec. Bello so shy in naming alleged corrupt officials in the POEA?” he asked.

The Lilac Center official added that Labor executives keep on announcing a revamp at the POEA but the public has no idea if that revamp is for real.

“And now Secretary Bello is running after security guards and janitors. This doesn’t do justice to the do- gooders and the upright in the POEA. It confuses and demoralizes them. We have, in fact, received queries from POEA personnel asking why Sec. Bello, as chairman of the POEA governing board, is shaming the people in the DOLE attached agency by keeping on insinuating there is corruption there, but not naming or charging anyone,” Fameronag said.