Afterthoughts for the jaundiced eye - II

The gargantuan past anomalies as cited in the SONA also touched on the Dept. of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) as expected. These DPWH raids of the public coffers are capped with "midnight deals" approved by GMA numbering 19 mega infra-contracts that could include the "rape" of the road users' tax funds.

As revealed by DPWH Secretary Rogelio Singson, most of the 19 "midnight deals" are in billions inked by GMA that could have waited for President Noynoy's action, even for "delicadeza's" sake. Incidentally, perhaps these are similar to DepEd's school buildings that Cebu City VM Joy Augustus Young claimed as costing P1M per classroom, instead of P700T which itself is already over-estimated. These "midnight deals" may also have not less than 30 percent for SOP "payola". Or is it 40 percent now?

Most probably also, the sleazy "lamppost" over-price that had dirtied the 12th Asean Summit in Cebu, could be just "peanuts" compared to the huge "farewell" bonanza from the 19 infra deals. And, definitely, these projects would further worsen the government debts, after depleting whatever is left in crumbs from the road users' funds.

What about the NAPOCOR which many jestingly call as the "National Powerless/Poorer Corporation"? It's not surprising that when the COA, or the Truth Commission shall have finished going over its transactions, NAPOCOR could yet be the worst in indebtedness. Meantime, the resurrected interest in the long-sleeping elephant that is the Bataan Nuclear Plant that has continued draining the state treasury of its dollar reserves, is all in the air. A lesser headache as power/energy user that has long been in the red is the MRT with some P5 B debt, and bloating.

But however debt-ridden the GOCCs are, their respective governing boards and administrative officers are getting excessive add-ons, say, per diems, bonuses, allowances and such other perks. The GOCCs pattern their "splurge" from the giant private corporations of the Wall Street who are wallowing in multi-million dollars of fringe benefits.

As for the organic departments/bureaus of the national government involved in tax collection, like, the BIR, Bureau of Customs, or with similar fiduciary responsibility, say, the MMDA, the LTO, DPWH, DOTC, etc., under-the-table deals, "paybacks", percentage SOP, "commissions" and the rest of the huge monkey business have become "normal".

What is worst is the seepage of the graft and corruption down the line to the LGUs. It may include some LGU executives and the lesser gods of the officialdom. But what appears so dismaying is that the culture of graft and corruption is getting to be endemic, and shameful "privilege" even among the small fries in the public bureaucracy.

This culture of graft and corruption gnawing into the system and, eroding its decency and dignity, like, termites or army of "army" worms feasting overnight on the lush farms, or swarm of locusts doing the rapid rampage, is the President's basic mission to combat and destroy, first and foremost.

The few critics are zeroing in on the alleged lack of "road map" for his administration. They carp that the SONA did not touch on other issues, say, on climate change, no magnum opus on the economy, agriculture and industry, or the need to amend the Constitution, or on social benefits for the poor, like, health care, education, employment, and food, or on the OFWs problems, etcetera.

They also seem to forget that all these concerns and problems could not be coped with efficiently and effectively if graft and corruption remains pestering the system like festering wounds. This anti-corruption war is the basic "road map" that serves as the principal trunk line from which other trunk lines must emerge to complete the entire "road map" from which the President shall take off and pursue.

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