{"id":226841,"date":"2019-08-14T19:36:37","date_gmt":"2019-08-14T23:36:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=226841"},"modified":"2019-08-14T19:36:37","modified_gmt":"2019-08-14T23:36:37","slug":"pacc-to-govt-workers-learn-when-to-accept-decline-gifts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/08\/14\/pacc-to-govt-workers-learn-when-to-accept-decline-gifts\/","title":{"rendered":"PACC to gov\u2019t workers: Learn when to accept, decline gifts"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Greco<\/a>
PACC Commissioner Greco Belgica said he agreed with President Rodrigo Duterte and Malaca\u00f1ang that it was okay for government workers and officials to accept tokens of gratitude for the services they rendered, as long as they did not ask for it. (File Photo By Pacc888 – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0— Government workers and officials should know whether to accept or decline gifts given as tokens of gratitude, the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

PACC Commissioner Greco Belgica said he agreed with President Rodrigo Duterte and Malaca\u00f1ang that it was okay for government workers and officials to accept tokens of gratitude for the services they rendered, as long as they did not ask for it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will go by the proposal of the President.\u00a0Sinabi niya naman po malinaw<\/em>\u00a0(He made it clear). Out of gratitude,\u201d Belgica said in a media interview.<\/p>\n

Belgica explained that critics\u2019 negative perception of government workers and officials receiving gifts should be changed because it was a normal custom among Filipinos.<\/p>\n

\u201cPalagay ko medyo yung<\/em>\u00a0(I think the) interpretation\u00a0ng batas na regalo<\/em>\u00a0(on the law about receiving gifts) really has to be changed\u00a0dahil normal yung magpasalamat<\/em>\u00a0(because it\u2019s normal to be grateful),\u201d Belgica said.<\/p>\n

Belgica was referring to the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act (RA 3019).<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not really the amount\u00a0ang<\/em>\u00a0(that\u2019s the) issue\u00a0diyan<\/em>\u00a0(there), it\u2019s the purpose of a favor then that\u2019s bribery,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

However, Belgica said if a person giving the token of gratitude is someone who has pending transactions with government, it is best to decline the gift.<\/p>\n

\u201cKung yun nagbibigay ba sayo darating yung oras may transakyon sa goberyno, hwag mo kunin dahil mako-comprise ka dun<\/em>\u00a0(If the person who gave you something has dealings with government, don\u2019t accept it because you will be compromised),\u201d Belgica said.<\/p>\n

Earlier, Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said government workers and officials should use their discretion and only accept gifts that are of nominal value.<\/p>\n

\u201cEh kung yung nagbigay sa iyo ng regalo bilyonaro e baka naman kahit na para sayo malaki, hindi malaki sa kanya<\/em>\u00a0(If the person giving you a gift is a billionaire, if it\u2019s a large amount for you, it might not be for him or her),\u201d Panelo said.<\/p>\n

According to Panelo, the law does not specify what \u201cnominal value\u201d meant.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0— Government workers and officials should know whether to accept or decline gifts given as tokens of gratitude, the Presidential …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":226842,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-226841","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-azer-parrocha","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226841","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=226841"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226841\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":226843,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226841\/revisions\/226843"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/226842"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=226841"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=226841"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=226841"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}