PRESS RELEASE
February 5, 2011
The national center of government employees Confederation for Unity, Recognition and Advancement of Government Employees (COURAGE) today announced they are launching a support drive for embattled Heidi Mendoza, a Commission on Audit employee who stood as witness against the massive corruption in the AFP.
On Monday, they are set to stage a noontime action in front of the COA Main Office and are calling all government employees nationwide and the public to join and express their support by blowing a whistle at exactly 12:00 noon.
“The whistle symbolizes our stand against corruption. As government employees, we swore to serve the people. Like Heidi, our loyalty to our offices ends as our loyalty to the people begins”, Ferdinand Gaite, COURAGE National President said.
Gaite echoed the sentiments of other government employee-whistleblowers who like Mendoza had to sacrifice their jobs and security for truth and justice. He criticized the COA officials for their statement that attacked the integrity of Mendoza’s findings. COA stated that Mendoza has been giving the public “misleading information”.
“Instead of commending Mendoza for doing her job diligently and standing up against corruption, the COA officials even had the audacity to publicly criticize her for allegedly tarnishing the image of the institution. These are the likes of public officials that give public service a bad name. Mendoza is right that there are many government employees who are honest and are willing to spill the beans on irregularities in government”.
COURAGE also said they will also launch a “Peso from Public Servants against Corruption” for Mendoza and other government employee-whistleblowers.
Reference:
Ferdinand R. Gaite
National President, Courage
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