‘We hear you’

The Palace press officer issued that statement in response to the anti-corruption rally of a religious sect held over two days (cut short from the intended three-day gathering) at the Rizal Park last week.

“We hear them, we feel them and we will not disappoint them on their call for accountability and transparency. We will fulfill that,” said Presidential Communications Office chief Dave Gomez, incidentally a former colleague here at The STAR.

“We will hold to account those who stole, we will return what they stole and we will fix the system so it won’t be repeated. So we heard them and we will not disappoint them,” he added.

I hear him too, and I quote his statements because I intend to hold him to his pronouncements. Three things: hold them to account, return what they stole and fix the system. Parang ang dali, kayang-kaya.

Anti-corruption cries have been ringing out all over the country for months, ever since the President opened in his July 28 SONA the can – more like barrel, actually – of worms that is the grand flood control scam. It’s been four months since then, and two-and-a-half months since he issued EO 94 that established the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) to investigate flood control project scams as well as other anomalies in infrastructure projects all over the country. With a mandate as wide as that, the ICI could well be around for a long, long, long time.

People are impatient. The corruption in this flood control mess is so massive, so extensive and so in-your-face that there’s really no two-bits about it. Only the crooks – especially those in the supposedly “hallowed halls” of Congress – are still obfuscating, with denials “in the strongest possible terms” raining down all around, threats to file charges against accusers and whistleblowers for besmirching reputations… and all the while they just roll merrily along. Some of them probably think they can have a repeat of the PDAF scam, where they got off scot-free. Let’s hope this time is different.

The President was even more specific, declaring at a press conference the other week in Malacañang that the crooks “will be jailed. They won’t have a merry Christmas. Before Christmas, they will be locked up.”

Before Christmas – that’s exactly a month away. So this time I’m going to hold my breath to see some of those crooks – the “big fish” crooks, not the minnows and guppies – in jail by Dec. 25; I hope I won’t turn blue from holding my breath, Mr. President.

“To these shameless people who are stealing the people’s money: your happy days are over. We are going to chase you down,” the President added.

Fighting words, as the President tried to assuage growing public anger and impatience at the slow pace of the investigations and the even slower rate of cases being filed against the “shameless people.”

He issued a caveat though: “It’s better to be careful and take a little longer than to rush and make mistakes… We’re afraid that those we linked to this shamelessness will get away with it because of a legal technicality.”

His ombudsman said “these cases are ripe already, we expect things to happen very soon,” setting an even earlier deadline of Dec. 15.

Friday last week arrest warrants were issued by the Sandiganbyan anti-graft court against the ex-congressman-at-large and 16 cohorts involved in a P289-million substandard flood control project in Oriental Mindoro. That case was filed by the ICI and the DPWH Tuesday last week; as of yesterday, eight of them have been arrested. It seems things are indeed moving along more quickly this time.

The ex-congressman-at-large has been airing his side in a series of videos on Facebook (yesterday’s was the fourth installment) accusing the President of being the one responsible for the anomalous insertions in the budget. He also said the accounts of suitcases of cash (P2 billion per suitcase) being delivered to the Forbes Park homes of the one whose head the public has been crying out for – the former speaker and cousin of the President – as well as to the President himself, are true. But of course he himself got nothing of the kickback money since it all just passed through him. Whoever believes that line, there’s a bridge I’d like to sell you.

The former speaker has issued a statement that “throughout all these proceedings, no sworn or credible evidence has ever linked me to any irregularity” and that his “conscience is clear.” It has been clarified that the ICI recommendation to the ombudsman about him is only for further investigation into his role in the scandal, although a previous recommendation of the ICI and DPWH was for the filing of charges (plunder, graft, direct bribery) against him and the ex-congressman.

The tentacles of corruption reach far and wide, as do the temptations of lucre. Greed, it seems, knows no bounds, and it isn’t easy to moderate, as the song goes, “the crazy speed of always needing more.” Why the need for 40 cars and multiple billion-peso residences? When is it enough? I guess the answer is it’s never enough.

There will again be rallies on Sunday at the Rizal Park and at EDSA. Organizers expect hundreds of thousands to come out into the streets to take a stand against corruption, and for the government to hear and see the people’s indignation and demand for justice, accountability, restitution.

The government must resolve this issue of massive and pervasive corruption not because of public pressure and the number of people at the rallies, but because it is the right thing to do, the only thing the government can and must do.