Unrepentant of corruption

Now you see it, now you don’t. Expect public rage over World Bank sanctions against three colluding constructors to abate from memory soon. That’s what the Arroyo admin wants. All allies have been mobilized for the effort, like in a dozen other scandals.

The House “probe” of the disgrace to RP ended with a second hearing Wednesday. Officially it cleared of wrongdoing E.C. de Luna Construction Inc. and owner Eduardo de Luna, plus two other firms. Their basis was de Luna’s self-serving avowals of innocence. The whitewash necessarily was swift. Clamor had to be averted for a ban of the trio from local public works contracting, as the World Bank did in December. Congressmen and constructors have sweetheart deals covering P16.8 billion in annual House pork barrels. They had to ensure business as usual. That’s why the questions asked by admin congressmen were designed, as in basketball, to set the teammate for a lay-up.

Conspiring with the House coverup was the very regulator Dept. of Public Works and Highways. Undersecretary Manuel Bonoan’s task was to discredit the World Bank findings of bidding collusion in roadwork worth $33 million. It didn’t matter that he was so poor at it; there had to be a token Negro resource person. Exalting the blacklisted trio as “the most reliable contractors in the country,” Bonoan said, “We have no reason to believe there was collusion.” But when asked by a lone opposition congressman how bidders collude, the bureaucrat of 40 years looked clueless. He had to be lectured that, in the three questioned World Bank biddings, the winners safely were within 13 percent of the agency estimate, while the losers were 30 to 35 percent in excess. The World Bank gave DPWH a copy of its report, also posted in its website. Presumably Bonoan has read the definition of collusion and details of its commission. An officer of his rank is expected to know by heart the Government Procurement Reform Act, which metes prison terms on colluders. Collusion, as both World Bank rules and RP law state, thrives on corrupt and inept officials. Bonoan can only be one or the other.

The Senate ended its own inquiry a day earlier after just one hearing. There, a lone opposition senator was able to squeak in the info that de Luna is very close to First Gentleman Mike Arroyo. Although the admin allies chorused in protection of Arroyo that the tidbit “mere hearsay,” they had to acknowledge that de Luna does wield unexplained, if reflected power. The World Bank had informed the admin of the collusion as far back as 2007, and yet had done nothing about de Luna et al. The three even continued to land juicy contracts. (De Luna admitted to recently bagging a P100-million deal; his company website lists 26 ongoing public works nationwide worth P3.8 billion.) And when the World Bank report hit the headlines, all the culprits got was a 15-day suspension, like being sent to forced vacation in Disneyland. For this, the senators blamed Finance Sec. Gary Teves, DPWH chief Hermogenes Ebdane, and Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez. As in the House hearing, no attempt was made to dig into probable protectors of colluders. Arroyo’s likely role in favored constructors’ shenanigans was dismissed as lacking proof. Chief investigator Miriam Santiago correctly stated at first that collusion is happening in all government contracting at national and local levels. But by abruptly terminating her probe, she virtually closed the door to solving the widespread malpractice.

All this time, spokesmen were sniping at critics who audaciously linked Malacañang to the mess. Cell phone text brigades were reactivated to blast the message that the opposition was distracting the admin from solving the economic crisis. Whistleblowers were hooted down. It was the same as the coverup earlier scams. The House was made to conduct what even the admin’s Santiago called “comic opera” of Piatco, Northrail, Hello Garci, Comelec automation, among others. The Senate held its own inquiries — with no conclusions — of the ZTE, jueteng, fertilizer, Palace bribery scandals, etc. They are but adjuncts of a lucratively corrupt and thus unrepentant regime.

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Former Cabinet man Jose “Ping” de Jesus was elevated to the Meralco presidency with Danding Cojuangco’s hostile entry into the directors board. Because of proven professionalism, he is seen as the compromise nominee of the controlling Lopez family in the publicly listed utility. De Jesus had constructed the North Luzon Expressway for the Lopezes’ Manila North Tollways Corp., later sold at huge profit. Before that he served in the official families of two Presidents.

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