Bonanza for ‘exalted’ public servants amid a pandemic

The July 30 editorial (“Appalling neglect”) said it all: “Harrowing images of thousands of stranded Filipinos in appalling conditions at the Rizal Memorial Center… The chaotic scene (involving about) 8,400 locally stranded individuals… was the harsh reflection of the ‘real’ state of the nation.” Practically ignoring them to rot in the miasma of filth and squalor, the government seemed too helpless to do anything about their condition. Public funds have been severely depleted due to the current pandemic.

YET, WE ARE READING ABOUT “PUBLIC SERVANTS” SUCKING UP AND POCKETING TENS OF MILLIONS IN SALARIES, ALLOWANCES, BONUSES, ETC. (“Calida is 2nd highest-paid government official,” 7/30/20). By any equitable standard, this is tantamount to plunder  — in plain sight!

Mentioned in that report was the 2019 bonanza these “public servants” received: United Coconut Planters Bank officers Higinio Macadaeg Jr. (P20.47 million), Eulogio Catabran III (P15.09 million), and Edmond Bernardo (P11.58 million).

Not to be outdone were Solicitor General Jose Calida (P16.95 million); Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas officials Benjamin Diokno (P15.45 million), Maria Almasara Tuaño-Amador (P14.60 million), Chuchi Fonacier (P14.59 million), Dahlia Luna (P12.24 million), Ma. Ramona Santiago (P12.17 million), and Elmore Capule (P11.42 million).

Also specially mentioned among the multimillionaires and top earners in “public service” were Chief Justice Diosdado Peralta and Associate Justice Estela Perlas-Bernabe of the Supreme Court — the highest court of justice which has remained callous and impervious to the woes and miseries of Filipinos whose cases there have only been gathering dust and cobwebs through decades of indifference, delay, and neglect.

How much more of the people’s money do they want to grab? Filipinos at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum were suffering from the dismal lack of financial support or any form of material assistance from the government. The pandemic has bankrupted the government, which is now scraping the bottom of the barrel and relying on loans (amounting to trillions of pesos) and charities to help tide it over this horrible crisis.

President Duterte’s lawful salary is said to be less than P5 million a year, as the “most exalted” head of government. Apparently bereft of any sense of shame or delicadeza, those “humbler public servants” need to be told by him, if he really cares for the less fortunate, to “moderate their greed” and to cease and desist from ripping this country off.

Dino M. Capistrano
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