Secretary John Castriciones of the Department of Agrarian Reform on Tuesday urged third-level agency officials to go through a voluntary lifestyle check in a bid to wipe out graft and corruption within their ranks.
“In the exigency of the service and in line with the directive of the President [Rodrigo Duterte] to eradicate systemic graft and corruption in all branches of government service, all third-level officials are encouraged to be subjected to a voluntary lifestyle check,” Castriciones’ Memorandum Order No. 3 read.
Submitted requests for lifestyle checks shall be collected by the Office of the Secretary and submitted to the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission.
DAR Memorandum Order No. 3, Series of 2019 read.
Third-level officials include undersecretaries, assistant secretaries, directors and assistant directors.
The DAR chief earlier created an anti-corruption task force in support of the initiatives of the President to combat corruption in government.
He directed the agency’s anti-corruption task force to conduct thorough investigations into information, and enjoined employees to cooperate in the drive against corruption.
PACC chairperson Dante Jimenez said DAR Legal Services director Marvin Bernal and Internal Audit director Alexander Alimuddin Ali took their oath as deputies of the PACC to assist and help the commission evaluate cases, and police their own ranks to ensure public accountability and good governance.