‘But the public is watching and there’s a quiet anger growing, and unless the President’s exposé results in someone sent to jail, then the fire he has lit can rage beyond anyone’s control.’
IT took the President of the Philippines to blow the lid off a major source of corruption in one of the departments of government, admittedly long acknowledged to be one of the three or four most notorious for corrupt practices. The billions and billions of public funds that are funneled into substandard ghost projects around the country were shocking in their magnitude but not surprising in the practice: if in the past the monies pocketed amounted to tens of millions, that is just loose change these days.
No wonder contractors can go on televised friendly interviews with erstwhile respected media practitioners and parade their multimillion-peso fleet of vehicles without even raising a red flag or two in – or an eyebrow from — the hosts.
But it took a President to reveal what was happening under the very nose of the Secretary of Public Works. That the Secretary is still the Secretary is not surprising, this being the Philippines, not Japan; that he has not been fired yet is just as disappointing as the fact that he has not demanded the courtesy resignations of all his regional directors, subject to the results of a lifestyle check a third party should be asked to conduct on the DPWH hierarchy. After which he resigns.
But to be fair to the incumbent, all these did not just happen after the 2022 national elections. By the looks of the way the scheme has been carried out by a well-entrenched network of legislators and regulators, this system has been in place for decades. Decades.
The only difference is the amount being corrupted. From a small percentage of a project cost to 100% of the budget for a ghost project; from hundreds of thousands maybe 70 years ago to tens of millions before the end of the 20th century to hundreds of millions and even tens of billions today.
Year after year, administration after administration, generation after generation: corruption has become so institutionalized that there may be no way the patient can be cured of the disease without killing him in the treatment process.
And this is just the DPWH. What about the three or four others just as notorious?
Other than watching how this issue takes a life of its own and unfolds, it’s also amusing to watch both Houses of Congress trying to take control of the narrative and, in the process, contain the fire. Because, like a wildfire in California, the spark the President has lit can end up consuming almost everything and everyone in its wake. When many are guilty, it will be difficult to find a scapegoat because there are so many dead bodies scattered everywhere, with everyone’s fingerprints on the bodies.
But the public is watching and there’s a quiet anger growing, and unless the President’s exposé results in someone sent to jail, then the fire he has lit can rage beyond anyone’s control.
