In the Philippines, the big fish gets away and the small fry gets fried

A conspiracy exists when two or more persons come to an agreement concerning the commission of a crime and then proceed to commit it. In a conspiracy, there is collective criminal responsibility and all the conspirators are liable for all the consequences of their deed.

According to the Senate blue ribbon committee report, the Department of Education (DepEd) bought 39,583 laptops for public school teachers from its favored suppliers at the bloated cost of P58,300 per unit. The laptops were originally priced at just P35,046.50, resulting in an overprice of P979 million. The original intention to purchase 68,500 units did not materialize as a consequence of the overprice.

The report added that “There was a conspiracy to facilitate and/or generate an overprice which indicates manifest partiality, evident bad faith, and/or gross inexcusable neglect on the part of the senior officials and staff of the DepEd and the Procurement Service-Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM).”

The committee recommended the filing of criminal charges against several former and current officials of the DepEd and PS-DBM for conspiracy.

Why wasn’t then Education Secretary Leonor Briones included among those who should be haled into court? Why were the corporate officers of the joint venture companies identified by the committee as the favored suppliers of the overpriced and outdated laptops—Sunwest Construction and Development Corp., LDLA Marketing and Trading, and VST ECS (Philippines) Inc.—not among those who should face graft charges?

It is an accepted practice among fishermen all over the world to catch the big fish and to let go of the small fry. Here in the Philippines, it is the small fry that gets fried. The big fish, as a rule, is allowed to get away.

Excluding Briones and the suppliers from the consequences of their collective criminal responsibility only serves to solidify the public perception that the Philippine justice system is selective, arbitrary, and capricious. It will serve to inspire, encourage, and motivate other government officials to commit unabashed and unbridled acts of graft and corruption while in service, without fear of censure and consequences. Lady Justice in the Philippines will be seen as a whore who is cross-eyed if not blind.

In a conspiracy, the act of one is the act of all. How can Briones, who approved the multibillion deal and who headed the DepEd while runaway thievery was being conducted under her very nose, not be part of it? How can the suppliers not be part and parcel of this monumental act of piracy when they profited handsomely and immensely from it?

An unbroken chain of generations of corrupt government officials has kept the Philippines short, stunted, and small compared to its siblings in the Asia-Pacific region. When will we wise up to the reality that we will forever be poor because we are enriching those who are supposed to be our public servants, with our indifference, complacency, and cowardice? The wicked live on denials, and denials are in themselves a kind of faith—faith in evildoing. Evil thrives when good men choose to do nothing.

The very ultimate victims of this conspiracy of pirates are the poor public school students, verily the children of a lesser god. The perpetrators of this dastardly crime, rather than lead these children to see the light of reason, bring them darkness and blind them instead. Realizing this just shreds my heart to shards.

Antonio Calipjo Go,Quezon City,

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