Lifestyle Check Program

The Transparency and Accountability Network (TAN) assists the Ombudsman and the Presidential Anti-Graft Commission (PAGC) in encouraging private citizens to act as informants by providing tips on extravagant lifestyles or unexplained wealth of public officials. Commitments of Support and Cooperation Agreements between TAN and PAGC were signed on 25 February 2005 by TAN Chairman Vincent Lazatin, then Ombudsman Simeon Marcelo, and PAGC Chairperson Constancia de Guzman.

TAN’s operation team conducted several consultations with NGOs, the Ombudsman, and the PAGC. Initial assessments focused on the need to protect whistleblowers who will provide “tips and leads” to nail corrupt officials. However, meetings on the tools for “lifestyle checking” were set aside in the last quarter of the year after TAN temporarily concentrated on the search for a new Ombudsman when Simeon Marcelo abruptly resigned in November. 

The consultation meetings focused on how to systematize and localize the management of information or tips from whistleblowers. Highlighted was the importance of tipping off investigators before they start looking deeper into a case. The network believes that this coordination will be vital in improving the efficiency and effectiveness of investigators in their fieldwork.

Aside from coordination efforts with the Ombudsman’s anti-corruption program, the network was concerned with the lack of transparency in the selection process of the new Ombudsman. The network also took charge of the Supreme Court Appointments Watch project for the selection of a new Associate Justice.

TAN also advocated for the passage of several pending reform measures in Congress, including bills that seek to strengthen the Office of the Ombudsman and the Sandiganbayan, increase penalties for corrupt acts, open accounts of suspected corruptors, and protect whistleblowers. TAN has been urging Congress to act on these reform measures.