This refers to the Inquirer news item “Calapan mayor faces graft case over TV, CCTV deals” (Page A18, Inquirer, 4/24/13). In reaction, Mayor Paulino Salvador Leachon said: The cases have already been cleared by the Commission on Audit and that all government projects in his city underwent proper bidding.
In Greek mythology, the hero Hercules, in a fit of madness, slew his own six sons. So he could atone for his actions, the Oracle of Delphi advised him to serve King Eurystheus for 12 years, performing whatever work the king commanded him to do. Eurystheus ordered Hercules to perform 10 labors, the fifth of which was to clean the stables of King Augeas, who owned more cattle than anyone else in Greece.
Under fire for failure to curb corruption in the Bureau of Customs, Commissioner Rozzano Rufino Biazon proposed to President Aquino the abolition of the bureau for a top-down purge that would end smuggling and rid the agency of corruption “once and for all.”
During the holidays, I was able to pore through piles of documents that have accumulated in my files and found out, I am sorry to say, that some innocent people have been accused of wrongdoing in media, including Manila-based ones, without their side being heard.
When I read the Inquirer’s Feb. 28 banner story on the Commission on Audit’s findings regarding the misuse of almost P200 million of the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) allocations of Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, Sen. Jinggoy Estrada and Sen. Bong Revilla, the immediate thing that came to my mind was the 2001 impeachment trial of then President Joseph “Erap” Estrada. If one may recall, in that trial, it was revealed that Estrada and his cohorts established the Erap Muslim Youth Foundation as a vehicle where they could stash dirty money collected from jueteng lords and other illegal gambling operators for “laundering.” As we all know, this exposé, together with many others, led to the downfall of Estrada and to his conviction of plunder.
I read in the newspapers that the national government is pouring another P40 billion to P50 billion (that’s billion pesos) as subsidies to government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs). That’s P40 billion to P50 billion taken away from funds for services such as infrastructure projects, food and health aids, housing and jobs for Filipinos who need them.
On grimy post office steps, flanked by cartons and plastic bottles, scavenger “Raul” prepared Sunday breakfast: green mangoes plus salt. “Kain tayo (Dine with me), sir,” he called when we passed to mail a letter.
You know it is election season in the Philippines when “road repairs” suddenly sprout along thoroughfares that do not really need them. While the corruption this symbolizes is usually anecdotal and hard to prove in court, the nuisance they cause is very real. This is especially true when the “improvement/concreting” is done haphazardly on the one and only access road of a mixed-use neighborhood.
The newest scandal in the Senate, the funneling of P195 million in pork barrel funds by three incumbent senators (Juan Ponce Enrile, Jinggoy Estrada, Bong Revilla) and a former party-list congressman (Buhay Rep. Rene Velarde) to a dubious nongovernment organization is one more proof that the pork barrel system should be abolished. The pork barrel, alias Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), is not only a waste of taxpayers’ money, it is a big root of corruption. It is no secret that a big portion of PDAF funds go to kickbacks. It is not only the legislators and contractors who are corrupted but also lowly employees who handle the documents.
On Jan. 28, the Philippine Congress passed the landmark law on the reparation and recognition of victims of human rights violations during the Marcos regime. President Aquino brought the “Compensation Act” into force by signing it on Feb. 25. Its passage reflects the high importance the Philippine government is devoting to the promotion and [...]
In the middle of last week one of the lawyers working for the release on bail of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo came to me asking if there was anything I could do to help. I said that, much as I would like to, at least for humanitarian considerations, I was afraid that anything I said would just be counterproductive for the reason that I am considered kapamilya. As many know, one of my nephews is now married to Luli Arroyo. For this reason, positions I took in the past were sometimes brushed aside brainlessly even by some whom I normally respect simply because a Bernas has become a member of the Arroyo family. This is insanity, of course, but it is part of life.
The “dark money” column (Inquirer, 2/2/13) uncorked a slew of furious reader reactions against legislators who hefted Concurrent Resolution No. 10 to block audits of their tax-money splurges. The solons, at the same time, demanded transparency from others. “Nothing so needs reforming as other people’s habits,” Mark Twain wrote.
