‘This rare convergence of moral clarity and economic sense will define the Marcos moment. He has drawn the line against corruption.’
PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has broken new ground by vowing to pursue private contractors and government officials behind ghost flood-control projects. It is an unprecedented stand that demands complete follow-through, and he is matching words with deeds.
“Hindi na kita kaalyado kung ganyan ang ginagawa mo. Ayaw na kitang kaalyado.” The message is unmistakable. There are no sacred cows, no favors for friends, no exceptions.
The real test is equal-opportunity prosecution — contractors and complicit officials alike, even those within his own camp, to keep the old cycle of impunity from coming back.
The follow-through must cover both fronts by prosecutions without fear or favor, and targeted tax relief for workers and MSMEs.
Accountability, however, must go hand in hand with relief. Every peso stolen should not be replaced by higher taxes on those who follow the rules.
Does the Department of Finance’s reflex to raise more revenue simply shift the cost of plunder to workers and small businesses? If that kind of mistake punishes victims instead of thieves, and the choice is between squeezing honest income or squeezing out graft, choose the latter.
There is another path. Senators have proposed measures to ease the burden: exempting more wage earners from income tax, raising the cap on tax-free bonuses, scrapping levies on overtime and service charges, and granting MSMEs targeted relief, including tax holidays and lower withholding tax. These reforms would reward productivity instead of penalizing it.
And we know tax cuts are possible. The principle is already proven. Last July, the Capital Market Efficiency Promotion Act cut stock transaction and stamp taxes, lowering costs to spur investment and inclusion. If tax cuts can fuel capital markets, they can also lift workers and entrepreneurs.
The principle goes this way: lower the drag where the economy is honest and productive, and raise the cost where it is predatory and corrupt.
The logic is simple: stop the leakage, ease the burden. If the government can recover the billions lost to ghost projects and deter further plunder, those savings can underwrite lighter taxes. In this equation, honest governance becomes the most credible tax relief.
This rare convergence of moral clarity and economic sense will define the Marcos moment. He has drawn the line against corruption. To seal that stand, he should pair prosecutions without fear or favor with real tax relief for the upright.
Only then will Filipinos see the state not as a punisher of the honest, but as a protector of the common good. Only then will words against corruption harden into a legacy.
The message becomes unmistakable: the state will no longer punish the people for theft they did not commit. That is how words against corruption harden into a legacy.
