I'm no longer proud to be a Filipino!

Is the Filipino still worth fighting or dying for? Twenty-two years ago, we were all in a state of euphoria when we ousted the well-oiled and well-entrenched conjugal Marcos Dictatorship in a bloodless coup called the EDSA People Power Revolt that made us proud to be Filipinos. What were so revolting with the Marcoses were the accusations by the opposition then that the Marcoses had amassed not only political power, but stolen from the coffers of the government and refused to share the booty with anyone else.

What broke the proverbial camel’s back was the assassination of the late Sen. Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. that proved to the nation that the Marcos Dictatorship would kill anyone who stood against them in their desire to be in power in perpetuity. Thus the stage was set for a people power revolt because the indignation of the Filipino people could no longer be contained.

Twenty-two years later, our nation has all but retrogressed, economically, socially and even politically. Sure, that one political monolith of a party called Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL) may have vanished from the political landscape, but like any ugly weed, it has grown into numerous self-serving political parties whose only main objective is to create more politicians that would steal more money from the nation’s coffers.

Proof of the pudding is in the eating; studies have shown that from 1977 to 1997, some $48 billion had been lost to corruption. If only this money was handled properly and honestly, we could have already paid our foreign debts, which at that time was only $40 billion. Yet 22 years after EDSA, no one plugged any of the leaks from our national coffers and corruption is no longer the exclusive domain of the executive branch of the government, but everyone else from the legislature to the judiciary is filling up their pockets with bribe money. So what can we say except what else is new?

2008 will go into history as the worst year for the Philippines when it comes to corruption. From the executive branch, we had the ZTE-NBN bribe attempt… then there’s the scandal of the Comprehensive Land Reform Program (CARP) that triggered the shortage of rice and other food commodities. Just this week, government auditors uncovered another P218.7-million rice scam by the Department of Agriculture (DA) and I’m sure that there is more into this.

Then there’s that infamous Court of Appeals (CA) attempted bribery scandal that caused the dismissal of Justice Vicente Roxas for writing a decision favoring the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), the suspension of whistle-blower Justice Jose Sabio Jr. and the reprimand of Justices Bienvenido Reyes and Presiding Justice Conrado Vasquez by the Supreme Court. As if on cue, the justices of the Court of Appeals suddenly forged a “covenant” to show their commitment to restoring public trust and faith in the judiciary. Call it the ultimate in sipsip or the greatest “motherhood statement” from the CA, but we want action, not talk!

To restore the confidence of the Filipino people, the Supreme Court must weed out all the misfits in the entire judiciary, not just in the CA. I suggest that they create a committee to look into bank accounts (without necessarily publicizing them) and remove the suspicious judges from the roster. It’s common knowledge that there is somebody in the Cebu-based CA who has long been rumored to be on the take, yet no action has been taken against this person. If the SC truly wants reforms in the judiciary, now is the right time to crack the whip!

Finally, the corruption scandal has hit the Senate floor when the Commission on Audit (COA) uncovered some P4 billion in “insertions.” We would be accused of naiveté if we didn’t have any hint that this exposé by Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson against Senate President Manuel “Manny” Villar wasn’t the first salvo fired to start the 2010 presidential race.

Sen. Lacson questioned Sen. Villar over the alleged budget insertion for the funding of the C-5 Road Extension Project in the 2008 national budget. Call this the Senate scam! In the past, Sen. Lacson would come up with some kind of harebrained scam, often a figment of his imagination. But this time, he seems to be right on the money; after all figures do not lie!

Of course, Sen. Villar and his cohorts vehemently deny this accusation, saying this was not for one, but two flyovers on the same road. Hopefully someday, the truth will surface. However, as Senate President, Sen. Villar presided over the approval of the 2008 national budget and if it’s true that there was indeed an insertion, the least we can expect from him is to resign as Senate President. But this is the Philippines where no one resigns, but clings to power. Shame on those who cling to power! Today, let me just say that I’m no longer proud to be a Filipino. That’s the truth!

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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.philstar.com. He also hosts a weekly talkshow, “Straight from the Sky,” shown every Monday, 8 p.m., only in Metro Cebu on Channel 15 of SkyCable.