EDITORIAL - A renewed campaign

Another administration, another commission against graft. President Arroyo has announced she is reviving the Presidential Commission Against Graft and Corruption, which her predecessor had abolished and replaced with the National Anti-Corruption Commission. Joseph Estrada created the NACC in July last year in response to a World Bank report that the Philippines was losing billions of pesos to corruption. This week the bank promised to support the Arroyo administration’s efforts to stamp out graft.

Every administration in this country has made a show of trying to eradicate or minimize corruption. But so far no administration has managed to make a meaningful dent in stamping out this problem that has been around since the Spanish era. Will this latest campaign be different?

Filipinos are hoping that the new administration has learned from the previous one, which collapsed from the weight of its own venality. When the president himself sees nothing wrong with accepting millions of pesos in "gifts" from people who have dealings with the government, you can see why the anti-graft campaign of the Estrada administration was doomed from the start. The former chairman of the Presidential Commission Against Graft and Corruption said the only time he was summoned by Estrada was to explain why a gaming official was being investigated. All recommendations of the commission to dismiss certain officials for graft were ignored by the deposed president.

In this renewed campaign, the government must not only look at misdeeds of the past but watch out for corrupt officials and influence peddlers in the new administration. The President must lead by example and see to it that her subordinates follow her lead. Corruption is found in all levels of the bureaucracy, and the administration must work out measures to reduce opportunities for graft. Corruption is also a two-way street, so there must be measures to discourage the public from offering bribes. Greasing palms to get efficient public service has become a way of life in this country that must be stopped.

Stamping out graft was one of the inaugural promises of Joseph Estrada. He failed miserably. The Arroyo administration must have something more than empty promises to show for its campaign against corruption.