Whistleblowers in the Philippines

One of my popular blog post was the article on Primitivo Mijares- the former Marcos right hand turned whistleblower against the dictatorship. I received numerous emails mostly inquiring how to get a copy of his book "Conjugal Dictatorship" (try Amazon.com) or how to connect with Mijares' living relatives which I don't have any personal connections to except for featuring their famous last name on my blog.

The Philippines should be grateful to Mijares and other brave whistleblowers like him because without them, many unethical and illegal practices of our public officials will left hidden in the dark.

Question is, does whitleblowers sheds a positive reflection on the Philippines or does it expose more its poor state of public affairs and the graft and corruption plaguing the government? There are laws and agencies in place to protect the public from abusive officials and practices but it seems like someone is not doing their job.

In the end, the country is better of with whistleblowers, the few and the brave, stepping out of the dark to expose the truth no matter how dangerous the consequences will be. My hope is that I many Filipinos (myself included) will reflect the same character that will always do the right thing despite the strong temptation to do what is wrong or in the case of Mirajes, et al. to keep the "whistle" from blowing.

(Check out Doing the Right Thing, a new ethics series from the Colson Center)

Here's a list of some controversial Filipino Whiltleblowers (adapted from Spot.ph)

- Heidi Mendoza, former COA auditor on military scam
- George Rabusa, AFP scam
- Jun Lozada, ZTE Broadband deal
- Rosebud Ong, Drug trafficking and kidnap for ransom by Sen. Ping Lacson
- Clarissa Ocampo, Erap's "Jose Velarde" scam
- Chavit Singson, Erap's "juetengate"
- Vidal Doble, "Hello Garci" tapes
- Primitivo Mijares, Marcos dictatorship

(Image from Amazon.com)