A corruption-free DPWH is like a leopard without spots!

First of all, allow me to greet all our readers a Happy Valentine’s Day. While I don’t have a Valentine’s Day column today where we focus our discussion on what lovers do on this red-letter day, that’s because I’m sure that a lot of columnists will write about this. However, let me just stress the point that for this day of love, we should give some thought of loving our country some more by exposing more criminals, crooks or corrupt public officials. The sooner we rid this country of this scum, the faster it can grow.

If any, the big pre-Valentine’s Day surprise was the decision of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to distribute a P3,000 cash gift a.k.a. "love bonus" to all national government workers, permanent or casuals, from the P3.1-billion savings made by the government because of its austerity campaign last year. Last December, a lot of these government employees were dismayed or disgruntled that their Christmas bonus was so meager and small… but then, their understanding or patience seems to have paid off because President Arroyo is now distributing money saved from this austerity campaign. So you can really say that 2005 has started very well for our government workers.

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The other big surprise last week was the appointment by President Arroyo of National Security Adviser Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. as Secretary of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) with only one major marching presidential order — to rid this graft-ridden national government agency of corruption. Ebdane replaces Secretary Florante Soriquez who was relieved because of alleged corruption... which didn’t come as a surprise to many of us.

Being a former chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP), pundits are questioning the President’s choice of Secretary Ebdane, who had to explain that he is a graduate of Civil Engineering but didn’t take the professional exams. President Arroyo defended her appointment of Ebdane, saying that there were other DPWH secretaries who were not engineers but who still made good. I fully agree!

But the President’s order to rid the DPWH of corruption is no doubt the biggest challenge of this former police general who, during his stint as PNP chief, wasn’t able to clean the ranks of the police. So the logical question here would be — if he couldn’t clean up the police, how in heaven can he clean up the DPWH which, all pundits in this country believe, is rotten to the core? The other question to ask is — can a leopard change its spots? Indeed, corruption and the DPWH have been so intertwined; the thought of seeing corruption eradicated from the DPWH is akin to seeing a leopard without its spots!

While we give Secretary Ebdane the benefit of the doubt or even a honeymoon period, what I would like to know is how serious is he in implementing this presidential directive. Don’t get me wrong... I’m one of the few who still believe that corruption can be eradicated for as long as the top leadership will assure the lower ranks that anyone who is corrupt would be dealt with severely. Even better if that top official would personally haul a corrupt employee to the Office of the Ombudsman. But how many Cabinet secretaries have ever done that, huh? No one!

But people do change if you really want them to change. Back in 1987, one of the problems Cebu City had was alleged corruption within the public works department. Hence, I was requested by Rep. Raul del Mar (Cebu City north district) and Rep. Antonio Cuenco (Cebu City south district) to join the bidding committee of Cebu City’s public works projects as an unpaid watchdog. I was then the vice president of the Cebu Chamber of Commerce Inc. (CCCI) and I thought it was a great public service to help improve Cebu City.

As I sat down in that committee, all I told the members was that the perception was that the committee members were corrupt and I was sent to find out if this allegation was true. But in the meantime, I told them that I hadn’t seen nor heard of anyone yet. I stayed there for three years and that was the last time we heard of corruption in that department... even up to now. Yes, people can change; all we need to do is be serious in our efforts and it must start from the top. I haven’t heard that Gen. Ebdane is tainted by corruption.

Indeed, what we require or expect from Secretary Ebdane aren’t more DPWH projects or other engineering marvels... rather that he rids the DPWH of corruption and perhaps, for him to listen to the complaints of the people in the locality. Recently, there’s been an outcry in Baclayon, Bohol that the widening of the national road by the DPWH would threaten the centuries-old Baclayon Church. Maybe, Secretary Ebdane should personally look into this before it’s too late.

Let me remind Secretary Ebdane of a failed DPWH project years ago not far from the Baclayon Church, which I dubbed the "Bridge of the River Why." This was the bridge that the DPWH constructed across the Loboc River; yes, the very same river featured in Cesar Montano’s award-winning movie Panaghoy sa Suba. Unfortunately, because Montano’s movie was a World War II story, he made sure that his cameras wouldn’t show that ill-fated bridge.

Because top DPWH officials in the nation’s capital probably didn’t care to personally go to Bohol to look at whether the new bridge would threaten the centuries-old Loboc Church, they pursued the construction of the bridge until it was 90-percent complete and the press made noise to the point that finally the top brass in Manila realized that the bridge, indeed, would endanger the old church and construction was stopped. Today, that bridge still spans the Loboc River — a mute testimony to DPWH inefficiency (they should have studied carefully where the bridge should cross), incompetence and yes, corruption.

Mind you, this happened a long time ago and until today, the DPWH is still graft-ridden. Back in the 80s, Central Visayas had the infamous P80-million DPWH scam where its top officials and private contractors had ghost projects and ghost deliveries but with a real payroll. Well, a lot of DPWH officials and a contractor were jailed in that scam. But alas, memories are short and the corruption in the DPWH continues to go unabated. So the big question for Secretary Ebdane is — will he change corrupt DPWH officials or will the corruption in the DPWH swallow him? At this point, I can only wish him luck and give him some tips!

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For e-mail responses to this article, write to [email protected]. Bobit Avila’s columns can also be accessed through www.thefreeman.com. He also hosts a weekly talk show, "Straight from the Sky," shown every Monday, at 8 p.m., only in Metro Cebu on Channel 15 of SkyCable.