EDITORIAL - Personal claim to public funds

When President Aquino did the unprecedented and eschewed the use of sirens and blinkers to part traffic for his convoy, all other VIPs were forced to follow suit. The other day he announced that he had ordered all public officials to stop putting his name and image on propaganda materials and government projects. This followed his declaration of support for a Senate bill seeking to make it a crime for politicians to put their names and images on waiting sheds, garbage bins and other items or projects financed by taxpayers. If approved by Congress, this would be an impressive accomplishment, since lawmakers are among the most notorious in this department.

In other countries, all state-funded projects simply announce to the public: “This is where your taxes go.” In this country, government officials have long confused public funds with private assets, claiming personal credit for government projects and products that are procured and distributed to the public. Government officials put their names and images on public property, giving incumbent officials an advantage during election campaigns, and making a seat in Congress, with its accompanying pork barrel, one of the most coveted jobs in this country.

Critics may see the President’s move as trivial or at best largely symbolic, but if it pushes through, it will be as applauded by ordinary Filipinos as the end of VIPs’ wang-wang entitlement. The President wants only taxpayers to be recognized for state-funded projects, and believes that no public official should claim personal credit for any government project or product. This is significant particularly in the light of reports that certain officials in the previous administration used their agencies’ funds to bankroll the election campaigns of their relatives, including the purchase of goods that bore the names and images of the candidates. If the reports are accurate, those were criminal acts, and they stemmed from a desire to put a candidate’s face on taxpayer-funded goods.