"Duterte must lead by example."
"Duterte must lead by example."
How serious is the Duterte administration in combating corruption in the bureaucracy?
Recall that Duterte ran for the presidency in 2016 primarily on an anti-drugs and anti-corruption platform. This apparently resonated so well with the Filipino electorate that they gave him a commanding lead over his nearest rival when the smoke of political battle cleared after the polls.
Even before Duterte took his oath of office on June 30, 2016, the police took his anti-illegal drugs campaign seriously—too seriously, in fact—that suspected drug addicts began falling by the wayside by the dozens throughout the country, particularly in Metro Manila and other urban centers. Between then and now, the Philippine National Police reports that some 6,000 drug suspects have been killed supposedly because they fought back (“nanlaban”) in legitimate police operations.
Human rights groups insist, however, that between 20,000 and 30,000 have been killed so far in extra-judicial killings or EJKs by suspected vigilante groups. The numbers cannot be independently verified by local as well as international human rights monitors apparently due to the sheer number of cases, on one hand, and on the other, and fear of reprisals by families of the victims if they do speak out.
The first two years of the Duterte administration witnessed what appeared to be sincere efforts to pursue the anti-corruption campaign.
Two of those who supported the ex-Davao mayor’s presidential bid and rewarded with plum posts were dismissed for alleged graft but not charged in court. Two commissioners of the Bureau of Immigrations were likewise dismissed for extortion even if they were lawyers who also studied at the same law school of Duterte. The Customs bureau has also seen changes in leadership in the past four years for their failure to curb systemic corruption that deprives government of billions that should go to infrastructure programs or vital social services such as education, health and mass housing.
Four years into the Duterte administration, it is only now that he has ordered a crackdown on widespread corruption.
The creation of a mega task force to investigate corruption is certainly a step in the right direction, and should be supported by Filipinos who have grown sick and tired of what appears to be unbridled corruption in practically every branch of government: executive, legislative and judicial.
Mr. Duterte has packed the executive branch with former military officers who simply obey his orders and some do not have the requisite competence in specialized fields. At least two of them have been removed from prior positions but were merely transferred to other offices.
Part of the reason why corruption persists in government is that some appointments have been made on the basis of friendship or common work experience in the past. We cannot say that this administration has chosen only the best and the brightest to key positions in government.
It would appear that certain elective and appointive officials only use public office to funnel taxpayer’s money to private pockets.
It therefore looks to us that the announced crackdown on corruption appears doomed to fail right from the start.
How can it succeed if the President himself refuses to submit his Statement of Assets and Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) for public scrutiny to demonstrate to one and all that he has nothing to hide?
The Office of the Ombudsman has gone a step further than putting a stop to the release of SALNs by public officials. He has also ordered a stop to lifestyle checks as he claims these may be used to blackmail them. How can it succeed when the President himself has already cleared certain officials of any wrongdoing on his mere say-so?
And why focus only on large-scale corruption involving only amount of more than P1 billion? How about those involved in cases already involved in ransacking the national treasury to the tune of hundreds of millions of pesos?
If the crackdown on corruption is to be credible in the eyes of the public, there should be no exemption, with the President himself voluntarily making public his SALNs from the time he was Davao City Mayor up to the present.
Our Constitution is very clear in the section on Accountability of Public Officers: “Public office is a public trust. Public officers and employees must at all times be accountable to the people, serve them with utmost responsibility, integrity, loyalty, and efficiency, act with patriotism and justice, and lead modest lives.”
No one is above the law. If the sweeping probe of corruption is to succeed, Duterte must lead by example. Otherwise, the declared all-out war on corruption is full of sound and fury signifying nothing.
ernhil@yahoo.com