Tightening the noose on corruption

Will People Power Begin on Nov. 30?

The anger on the revelations about the substandard and ghost projects of the floor control programs has reached another level. It is turning out to be a total fight against corruption. The last few weeks have revealed that substandard and ghost projects are not limited to flood control but include other public works projects like farm to market roads, bridges, school buildings, health centers and even a personal project of First Lady Liza Marcos which was supposed to be a building in Intramuros meant for the film industry.

There are now reports emerging about graft and corruption in the Department of Education, Department of Health and the Department of Agriculture.

I recently received a letter from someone who has been closely following events regarding the substandard and ghost projects of the government. The letter contains a few proposals on how the fight against corruption should continue.

Here is the letter:

“The public should continue to press all the three branches of government for major reforms. As for the executive branch, particularly for hard infrastructure projects, the corruption should be plugged by first addressing whether these are the right projects specified in the NEP (National Expenditure Program) and GAA (General Appropriations Act).”

I am sure the writer meant that the executive branch should ensure that there are no insertions and illegal amendments to the NEP and GAA.

“Second, did the implementing agency or office conduct a truly competitive public bidding to determine the right cost?

“In order to ensure the right quality, did the agency with independent entities inspect the progress and completion of the project as to compliance with the project specifications?

“There is also the need to change the measure of an agency’s performance based on financial disbursements as the principal metric of an agency’s performance needs to be changed.

“The role of the COA (Commission on Audit) needs to be changed to pre-audit and not just post-audit.

“As to Congress, the influence of legislators over the implementing office – district engineers – has to be addressed.”

The most difficult reform is to determine how the implementing agency will be forced to conduct a truly competitive bidding process. There must be a way to ensure that the bidding is truly made public.

In the past, there have been different ways that have been attempted to remove the influence of legislators – senators, congressmen, local government officials – over the implementing office. During the term of President Noynoy Aquino, it was felt that the removal of the pork barrel system achieved this objective. However, recent events have shown that the removal of the pork barrel system simply led to another means of graft and corruption due to the undue influence of legislators over the entire process.

Moving on to another topic, I want to express again my strongest appeal to the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) to listen to the public clamor for the hearings to be made public. In the last couple of weeks, in every gathering that I have attended, I have heard constant speculation relating to what is happening in the hearings. There are even supposed leaks going around and all of this is not healthy for this whole process.

There must be a way of addressing this need of the public to know what is going on. The hearings could take months or even more than a year before a final report is released to the public. If the ICI does not want the public to know what is going on, this could lead to a frustrated public that will look for solutions on the streets, rather than the courts of law.

Perhaps a reasonable compromise could be found that will satisfy the need for the public to have access to what is going on and the desire of the ICI to maintain confidentiality until all information has been thoroughly verified. This is a very serious challenge that the ICI should address or face possible consequences.

The issue of graft and corruption has become a worldwide phenomenon today. It has caused violence in the streets, especially by the youth sector in Nepal and in Indonesia. The most recent countries where this is now happening are Morocco and Tunisia. In Nepal, the president had to resign and was immediately replaced.

The ICI should feel that they have a tremendous responsibility to ensure that public frustration does not begin with the public becoming frustrated and losing total trust in the integrity of the ICI. If this happens, the next step will be a resort to people power or even worse, to violence or a coup d’etat.

On Nov. 30, there will be a second Trillion Peso March. Hopefully, there will only be a single united rally, unlike the Sept. 21 rallies which were held separately.

It may sound like a cliché, but the Philippines is truly at a crossroads today. Perhaps the direction of our future may be decided long before the 2028 elections.

*      *      *

Email: [email protected]