Reacting to a proposal that more closed circuit television cameras be installed at the Bureau of Customs, Rommel Francisco said on national television that such a move would violate the employees’ human rights.
“What if they try to increase our salaries and give us the benefits due us? Do they think we would still do these things?” he told a reporter of GMA 7.
For his candor, the president of the Port of Manila chapter of the Bureau of Customs Employees Association now faces a lifestyle check ordered by his boss, Customs Commissioner Alberto Lina. Lina had in fact summoned Francisco following the latter’s virtual admission that he and his colleagues accepted bribes.
The installation of additional CCTVs at the bureau is just among the suggestions of a vice presidential candidate who also want to have desk-less glass drawers and pocket-less uniforms. The intention is to curb, if not eliminate, corruption at the government agency that has over the decades become synonymous with corruption at all levels.
That the practice is so institutionalized is likely why Francisco was matter-of-fact, forgetting the line that separates those inside the bureau and those outside—the public, specifically, who may have heard stories but have no conclusive proof of what truly happens inside it.
An investigation and eventual prosecution is most welcome. This would remind desensitized bureau employees like Francisco that just because corruption is the norm does not mean it cannot be acted upon.
Stopping with the investigation, however, would be foolish—even as we expect exactly that to happen.
The bureau’s notoriety has prevented the economy from reaping the revenues it deserves, and has fostered a culture of impunity among the people inside it. Who knows whether the supposed lifestyle check would not be another moro-moro, pacifying the public in the meantime but changing nothing in the long term?
If this country’s next leader were to be serious in stamping out corruption, then changes at the bureau must be a priority. With Francisco’s words, the next administration—we’ve given up hope on this one—does not need any more convincing that an overhaul, not just reforms, is in order.
The status quo, not just at the bureau but all other agencies that give us reason to despair, violates the people’s right to an honest, efficient government.