And so while the cat may be out of the Parliamentary bag, these civil society actors say that the state's oversight bodies should be able to act as a check and a balance on suspect transactions. But, they do concede that the real is far from the ideal:
Glenfield Dennison, Labour Senator
"We need to look at the Ombudsman, we need to look at the Contractor General's Office. These four branch institutions, when working properly, should be acting as a check -and -balance against this super -executive that we have."
"And I think until we, as a country, start to realize the importance of these offices and start to clamor for people who are in there, who are doing their jobs, I think we will just keep going down as a country and the super -executive will just look at us and laugh every single time."
Nadia Caliz, BNTU President
"Talk about the Ombudsman, you talk about the accountant General, you talk about all these persons. Their office needs to have more teeth. They're just there. But they do not have the power to take these people to court when they are found guilty."
Jules Vasquez
"Or the will."
Nadia Caliz, BNTU President
"Good. Not only the will. The system doesn't really allow, look at it carefully. You have to come back to the same people who are violating. So why will we know, look at the Constitution if you are not going to make the necessary changes, we don't want to be here every time marching and marching, put the goddamn law in place so we can take them to court and deal with the matter."
