EDITORIAL- Again, a national broadband deal

If President Duterte wants to cut red tape, plug opportunities for corruption and improve public services in general, among the most useful ways is computerization. Human discretion is minimized and layers of individuals who want grease money for every official act are bypassed.

The government recognized the usefulness of internet connectivity many years ago, and moved to install a national broadband network. Ironically, a move that could have cut red tape and minimized graft ended up bogged down in a corruption scandal that brought down a chairman of the Commission on Elections and implicated a president and her husband.

“Moderate your greed,” “back off” and “bubukol yan” were the buzz phrases of those days. For reasons that only the justice system in this country can explain, however, all the major players in that broadband scandal involving Chinese tech company ZTE have been cleared in the corruption case, while whistle-blower Rodolfo Lozada Jr. is on trial for graft in connection with a land deal he awarded to his brother. Today ZTE, one of China’s largest companies, is reportedly among those interested in bidding for a national broadband system that the Duterte administration wants to put in place.

The government can use a broadband network. This time, however, the project must not be undermined by any bribery or attempt at personal gain by public officials. President Duterte often promises the nation that his government will be clean. One way of proving that he means it is by showing that a national broadband project can be implemented under his watch without a whiff of corruption.