EDITORIAL - The slip is showing

The Commission on Audit is looking into the legality of calamity fund assistance Capitol has been providing to disaster-stricken areas outside Cebu. There used to be a time when such vigilance truly deserved a standing ovation from the public.

Not anymore. Ever since the impeachment trial of Renato Corona exposed the ease with which government agencies performing oversight functions can be harnessed to further political interests, people have become leery of the supposed independence of these agencies.

For example, how well-meaning and in furtherance of good governance is this COA action and how much of it was set in motion to pave the way for the administration’s long-term goal of wresting control of Capitol and hand it over to its local allies?

To be sure, seeing to it that all assets of government are protected and put to good use is a function hardly anyone can argue against. In fact it should be encouraged. But sometimes the slip shows and we find ourselves on a road paved with good intentions, leading us off to hell.

Timing is often a great and reliable indicator of things amiss. Like we have been forever giving aid to others — a laudable act really, provided it passes the required bureaucratic red tape — yet it seems only now when the 2013 battle lines have been drawn that COA gets nosy.

Financial assistance during calamities is an improbable source of graft. Fear of karma strikes deep within the heart of every Christian Filipino. At its worst, a little procedural kink may have attended the humanitarian gesture, nothing that cannot be fixed by lack of malice.

It is disquieting, though, to find humanitarian causes being manipulated to serve as a springboard from which to launch the opening salvo of 2013. It is even more disconcerting this lack of any qualms by this government to use all its assets to get at its enemies.

It is a great and beneficient time to be in the good graces of the party in power. But woe unto those who find themselves on the receiving end of this blatant abuse of power. When good governance is used as a smoke screen to flush out political enemies, everybody suffocates.