Yes, corruption is much worse today

The editorial (“Hollow fight,” 8/5/21) took note of a report from the Ateneo School of Government which showed that President Duterte miserably failed to do the one major thing he promised during his 2016 election campaign — to eradicate corruption in government “by the end of that year.” The fact of the matter is, it only got worse thereafter and is much worse today.

That Ateneo paper posited that such “failure… followed from the presidential approach to governance that removed or weakened the guardrails already proven necessary to control corruption.” Having institutionalized impunity, Mr. Duterte has grown very fond of talking tommyrot, frequently saying he has fired corrupt officials here and there when in truth he would just “recycle” his favorite appointees to other lucrative posts.

The editorial failed to mention the one thing that made the Duterte administration more prone to corruption: Ombudsman Samuel Martires, who obviously continues to look after Mr. Duterte’s interest. Take the case of that continuing airport “heist” by some 43 (or is it now 86?) Bureau of Immigration personnel in the form of “pastillas” bounty from Chinese “tourists” reportedly amounting to P40 billion. Everyone is wondering why that scandal never got any prosecutorial attention from the Ombudsman. Mischievous minds can’t help thinking: That kind of money could buy elections for president, vice president, senators, and congressmen this 2022.

When will Filipino voters quit thinking like they were born only yesterday?

ULYSSES BERMUDEZ
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