Why we are losing the battle vs. corruption

We seem to have two reports coming from the World Bank (WB). First the good news that was headlined in The FREEMAN yesterday that the World Bank had agreed to fund the study for Cebu’s Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) to the tune of US$355,000 or roughly around P16.8 million. This is indeed great news for Cebu City. I do not recall any study funded to focus on our mass transportation system, specifically on a bus-based system aimed to bring new mass transport system to our city.

Kudos to Cebu City Planning Officer Nigel Paul Villarete for bagging this fund. However I must give him this warning from a old quote by Oscar Wilde: “There are two tragedies in life, one that you don’t get what you ask for, the other is when you get it!” If the City of Cebu didn’t get this fund for the study, then we’d always say that we couldn’t move forward because there was no money for the BRT study.

But since we’re in the tragedy of getting this fund, the challenge is now up to Paul Villarete to quickly do this study. So, what is the timetable for this study? Let me be very clear about this. Cebu City needed a new mass transit system 10 years ago and I will never present myself as a stumbling block to this project. But we must know how long will it take for the study to be completed and who will do this study. When that is done, we’d also like to know how fast can the BRT be implemented? If we’re in a hurry for answers, it is only because we know that studies often take more time than necessary. So let’s go for it!

Now for the bad news! The other World Bank Report also made the headlines this time in The Philippine Star which blared “WB Links Gov’t Officials, Politicians to Bid Rigging”. Who are these government officials and who are the politicians involved? We can only hope that the World Bank’s Department of Institutional Integrity (INT) their anti-corruption unit would spill the beans and the names of those involved in the bid rigging so we’ll no longer go on a guessing game.

What was very intriguing is the front page story also in the Star that the World Bank probe and the DPWH probe ended up with opposite conclusions. It is crystal clear to us that the government officials involved in this bid rigging are top officials of the DPWH, hence when they conducted their probe on this, they found no collusion. We are all being taken for a ride by the DPWH. This is why we are losing the war against corruption!

What was even more interesting is the report by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) that also appeared in the Star which exposed the number of contractors who are now members of Congress. Just reading the remarks of Pampanga Rep. Aurelio Gonzales Jr., vice-chairman for the Committee on Public Works and Highways saying that it should be the World Bank that should be sanctioned! Wow! Only in the Philippines where the whistleblower gets sanctioned, while the crooks get away!

In just two days of hearings, the Committee Chairman Rep. Roger Mercado (So. Leyte) cleared the seven contractors blacklisted by the World Bank and blamed the World Bank for not naming names. Clearly Rep. Mercado’s committee did not go into a full-blown investigation as to who were involved in those bids. The Chinese call this “Lutong Macau”!

The PCJI report revealed that between five to ten percent of the members of the House of Representatives are contractors or have interests or assets in the construction industry. This is where the so-called “You scratch my back, and I will scratch your back” doctrine comes into play. Favored contractors get the juiciest contracts, many of them are fat ones. Call it a “legitimate” way of pocketing public money into one’s personal coffers. The other name for it is plain and simple corruption!

Now you know why people run for public office. They can get a hefty “return on their investments” that they spent during the elections. Thanks largely to the present political system that was put in place by the Cory Constitution, where Congressmen use their Pork Barrels to fund projects for their constituents. This is why I have always wanted to change the 1987 Constitution via a Constitutional Convention (con-con) so we will force lawmakers just to make laws, nothing else.

Have we Filipinos become callous to corruption by government people? It seems that we’re not indignant anymore that these potentially corrupt people are clearing themselves of this mess. Funny, even the Office of the Ombudsman seem nonchalant about these reports of corruption. This is why I believe that we may have already lost the battle against corruption!