Don't trust the top to start cleanup

Everybody’s now for sale, ex-Speaker Joe de Venecia lamented. The highest official of the land and the executive branch, down to legislators and local officials are in the pockets of contratistas. Justice goes to highest bidders. Archbishop Angel Lagdameo, as president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference, has called for cleansing of the bureaucracy. Academic and business groups have followed suit.

The public shows its disgust through surveys. In June respondents graded Gloria Arroyo’s performance minus-38, the lowest of any President since Marcos. More recently they rated ten agencies as most corrupt: GSIS, -12; Dept. of Agriculture, -17; Dept. of Justice, -17; National Police, -18; Dept. of Interior and Local Government, -23; Presidential Anti-Graft Commission, -23; Dept. of Environment and Natural Resources, -25; Comelec, -27; Dept. of Transportation and Communication, -27; and Office of the President, -27.

Notably the ten have been in the news of late for unexplained shady deals. Well covered were the GSIS involvement in judiciary bribery, the PNP-DILG in the “euro-generals”, and the DA in theft of farm subsidies. The Comelec, DOTC and DENR have been linked to the ZTE scam. And the DOJ, PACG and OP abetted all the above.

This quarter foreign investors and diplomats ranked RP the sleaziest of ten Asian governments. National and local officials, sucking up the wealth of the land, deprive citizens of basic services. International pollsters listed RP the fifth starving nation on earth; among Filipinos self-rated hunger has worsened to 43 percent of families.

It’s the President’s job to lead a government cleanup. In February Arroyo formed two task forces to mobilize churchmen, educators and businessmen in an anti-corruption drive. Trade Sec. Peter Favila headed the Anti-Red Tape Task Force, Budget Sec. Rolando Andaya the Procurement Transparency Group. Nothing happened. All ningas-cogon, Arroyo paid lip service to integrity. She might as well have formed a truth commission with the motto: if you tell the truth, you forgo the commission.

From the onset nobody believed Arroyo. Bacolod Bishop Vicente Navarra said then that Arroyo should start her honesty drive by explaining the many scams hounding her. She kept silent while her goons kidnapped and nearly executed whistleblower Jun Lozada. Silent too about Joey de Venecia and Dante Madriaga’s exposés of husband Mike’s tong-pats from the pricey but pointless $329-million ZTE deal. She did nothing to bring back Mike’s bagman Jocjoc Bolante from US hiding and tell all about the P728-million fertilizer rip-off. No action too on the continuing killings and abductions of militants. She ignored the uproar over the bribery right in Malacañang of 189 congressmen and 60 local executives. Disregarded too were reports of a P3-billion swine dispersal scam during her 2004 presidential campaign.

Now looms the killing by Arroyo’s bribed House majority of an impeachment rap that contains all the above cases plus more. Tomorrow’s plenary is expected to stifle as well the ZTE-Diwalwal and Northrail scams. As well, the kidnapping of a Comelec officer as disclosed in the Garci CDs, and Arroyo’s near grant of territory to Moro separatists. Congressmen, in cahoots with related local officials, will cover Arroyo’s tracks — like Mafia bosses in protection rackets.

At the same time, Arroyo’s congressman-son Mikey is leading a drive to extend elective terms via constitutional mangling. Cohorts will convene the Senate and House with three-fourths of combined seats to push the self-serving amendment. If questioned, they will bank on a Supreme Court stuffed with more and more Arroyo sycophants to uphold their virtual power grab.

There’s a message in all this. The people no longer can trust their present leaders in the executive, legislative and judicial branches to clean up the government. That’s why Bataan Bishop Soc Villegas appealed last week “to the conscience of my countrymen: do not leave the solution of corruption to corrupt officials. Our problem cannot be our solution.”

Where then does salvation from official thievery lie? Obviously for Villegas, in the hands of the people. “We cannot profess faith in God and not get angry at widespread corruption. Faith in God and outrage against sin go together.” Zeroing in on Charter amending, Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pablico added that legislators are unfit for it because their stands are for sale.

Other prelates, Antonio Tobias of Novaliches and Deogracias Iñiguez of Caloocan, are calling on the people to take to the streets to oust Arroyo. University president Armin Luistro and business leader Bertie Lim heeded by organizing noise barrages Friday at the Makati business district.

The vast majority of thinking Filipinos remain silent. Nine million of them are abroad eking out a decent living; the rest are pinning hopes on an unreformed electoral system to miraculously save them in 2010. Most think it their fate to suffer bad government, so grin and bear it.

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