‘Ginibang mga daan’: Worst form of corruption

The P-Noy administration commits itself to a campaign against corruption and has used the phrase “Matuwid Na Daan,” meaning “the straight and narrow path” of morality, to symbolize their quest. To date their efforts have been commendable in terms of actual action as well as moral persuasion. Ironically the worst form of corruption we now witness all over the country makes a literary and literal mockery of that quest through the “Ginibang Mga Daan” scam.

All over the Philippines, many provincial and local governments are engaged in intentionally destroying perfectly decent roads in order to “create” projects, deplete any and all unused or remaining IRA funds rather than return to the national government, and create a source of campaign contributions from contractors, suppliers and constituents who benefit on a personal basis.

Every three years or just before, and even during the election period, local contractors rape hundreds if not thousands of kilometers of roads nationwide. Time and again, I have heard taxpayers complain about the practice that often times are unnecessary, technically unjustified, and always creates’ great inconvenience and lost income to citizens in barrios, towns and cities nationwide.

Malacañang, Senators, and Congressmen, even the Office of the Ombudsman and the Commission on Audit (COA) know, or are aware of this highly irregular and criminal practice as well as the large-scale corruption in this pre-election carnage of our roadways. However, most of them will look the other way or cowardly ignore the truth, because it would not be politically astute or wise to chase local officials who deliver votes to nationally elected officials. The only time they will ever prosecute is probably when they need to dispose or neutralize a local official they consider a political enemy.

Assuming it is politically impractical to end this widespread form of corruption, there should at least be a system where the DPWH, DILG, or independent experts must first determine if the roads should actually be repaired or rebuilt before any money is allocated and before any demolition is allowed. At the moment, everything seems to be done via political decisions instead of engineering assessment, with hardly anyone batting an eyelash. Because it is the easiest and long established practice, the first to go will always be the roads and we all suffer. By placing a technical evaluation requirement, officials would then be forced to use up their funds on other projects.

There can be no Matuwid Na Daan in a nation where ginigiba ang daan.                       

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The recent disturbance created by members or followers from the “Royal Family” of the Sultanate of Sulu has produced some lessons in politics and management that are worth considering.

First: If a problem occurs again, you obviously did not solve the problem.

The Republic of the Philippines may have evolved as the bigger if not the supreme government of the islands, but if the Sultanate of Sulu has a legitimate historical claim to Sabah, the republic and its merry-go-round of temporary rich leaders cannot rob the sultanate of its legitimate claims for political convenience. The only way to solve the problem is to actually solve it and not dismiss it or belittle the claims of the heirs. At the very least we owe it to them to treat them with respect.

The fact that an important letter from the heirs did not reach the President also confirms that the same problems in communication still exist inside the P-Noy administration as it happened during the Rizal Park massacre of Chinese tourists, when the President was not immediately advised of an important call from a high ranking official from Hong Kong.

The second lesson: Less talk, less mistake.

There is a saying or biblical verse that warns us that it is “better to be silent and thought a fool than to open one’s mouth and remove all doubts.” President Abraham Lincoln reportedly put a positive twist to it by saying: “Even fools are thought to be wise when they keep their mouths closed.”

Whoever wrote the speech for the President ordering the “Occupy Sabah” group to stand down, clearly went overboard at the President’s expense. On the good side, the speech must have made the Malaysians very happy to be reassured that Malacañang was not entertaining any ideas of reclaiming Sabah like President Marcos did in the late ’60s. The Malaysians must have also been happy to hear that Malacañang would not take the side of the heirs in the event of a direct conflict.

As far as diplomatic matters are concerned, the President’s speech was a homerun. But on the local front, the threats of legal action have obviously fallen on deaf ears and have clearly made things worse. Culturally speaking you don’t threaten “Muslims” in the south because as a whole they are the equivalent of a dysfunctional family that suddenly comes together when one of them is threatened. You also don’t make threats to their leaders because unlike the “Tagalogs” who can compartmentalize relations and sentiments, the “Muslims” in the south treat threats made against their leaders as something very personal.

For decades, occupants of Malacañang have made fatal mistakes about what they say or do concerning the “Muslims” in the south. That happens because “minamaliit” or they belittle them. Second, they don’t get the counsel of many, especially those who understand the culture and not just the politics. Failing to honor them we must now live with the potential horror of the consequences.

Unless you can say: “It’s not a threat, it’s a promise,” we should never go around making threats.

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I won’t take credit for it but after writing about how road hooligans have been ruling over the traffic situation in Mandaluyong City, there was an immediate improvement in the situation for a few days in various parts of Mandaluyong, particularly at the Boni avenue on ramp to EDSA. Several Mandaluyong enforcers were on the job early in the morning. Unfortunately, just like the MMDA and the whole of Metro Manila, the traffic enforcers were nowhere to be found after 6 p.m.

As a resident in the nearby area of Kapitolyo, Pasig, I will take what good I can get from the leadership of Mayor Benhur Abalos and compliment his people for at least trying to do something about the Boni-EDSA on ramp problem. I do hope however that they can arrive at a better solution, such as a combination of one-way streets that would fix most of the problem without relying heavily on manpower.