THE GOOD news is that President Benigno Aquino III is personally heading the cluster on Good Governance and Anti-Corruption. He is doing so, says Butch Abad, “to drive home his seriousness and determination to fight corruption.”
It does carry weight. At the very least, that is so because President Aquino has the credibility to go with it. You may accuse the President of stealing a lot of women’s hearts, but you may not accuse him of stealing any of the people’s money. His record as a public official remains unblemished in that light, showing he has been raised well, the fruit doesn’t fall very far from the tree.
The previous regime did not lack for anticorruption drives either, which it mounted spasmodically especially when it came under fire for it. But the concept of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo leading a campaign against corruption has always struck the public as not unlike the International Monetary Fund leading a campaign against rape—of countries or of people.
At the very most, that is so because President Aquino leads by example in that respect. His decision to head the cluster of Good Governance and Anti-Corruption does suggest seriousness and determination, a desire to be hands-on on this one rather than to delegate it to somebody else. You wish of course that he had shown the same seriousness and determination on the issue of burying Marcos in the Libingan ng mga Bayani instead of relegating it to the Vice President. But that’s another story.
That’s the one thing President Aquino’s predecessor expressly did not have: a capacity to lead by example. The reason the “Ate” in “Ate Glo” never really took off is that elder sisters, or siblings generally, distinguish themselves for the example that they set. If Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo set an example for the country, it was only in what not to be. “Huwag tularan,” as the titles of old movies used to say by way of preface.
None of this, however, may take the place of the one thing that will show the seriousness and determination of this government to fight corruption. That is prosecuting Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for it.
It will be one year next month since President Aquino came to power, and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo remains free. In fact she does not just remain free to enjoy the (poisoned) fruits of her labors, she remains free to torment government at every turn, not least accusing it of the very thing she is patently and epically guilty of: corruption. She has not been charged for the Macapagal Boulevard, for PhilHealth, for NBN. Only her minions have. Far more importantly, she has not been charged for “Hello, Garci,” for coddling the Ampatuans, for the massacre of political activists. Not even her minions have.
I did say when several Cabinet officials and senators begged Merceditas Gutierrez to just resign to spare the country strife and woe that they should be careful what they wished for. That impeachment trial would not have ended with Gutierrez, it would have begun with Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. That impeachment trial would not have sown strife and woe, it would have united the country by delivering woe to the despoilers of this country, as well it should.
Gutierrez did resign, and suddenly all the girding up for an epic battle is gone. Suddenly, all the mustering of forces to crush the corrupt and ungodly is gone. Suddenly all the public attention that had been drawn to the fight against corruption has been redirected to a wasteful, benighted, and self-flagellating debate about whether the country should practice family planning or not.
By all means government should try to ensure transparency and accountability in its transactions. By all means President Aquino should set an example of hewing to the straight and narrow, or taking the road not taken, with or without a fast car. But it is not enough to proclaim, “Henceforth we will do things differently.” It has to go with saying, “First we have to clear up the past to pave the way for the future.”
My own suggestion is for President Aquino to appoint an ombudsman posthaste who will file charges against Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for corruption of the body, of the theft of money, and to revive the Truth Commission which will file charges against Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for corruption of the soul, or the theft of freedom.
The importance of these things cannot be overemphasized. The past is the key to the future. In fact it is the key to the present. It is the only thing that can assure the resolve to do things differently from now on will be kept. You do not have to look far to see what happens when the tyrants of the past are not punished sufficiently for their crimes. Neither the Marcoses nor their cronies were, and they have not only been free to enjoy the (poisoned) fruits of their labors, they have (now) been free to demand—and have Congress obey—to turn Ferdinand Marcos into a hero.
The daang matuwid is not paved with cobblestones, or with spit, it is paved with justice. If the wrongdoers of the past are not punished, the wrongdoers of the present and future will remain.
Prosecuting Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo should also bring back fighting corruption to the forefront of public attention, which was how things were before the Church waylaid it with their opposition to the RH bill. The only people who are going to profit from that useless debate are Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her cabal who can take cover from it, and the bishops themselves who took Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s money and want to make the world forget about it. They should be so lucky to get away so easily. There is only one moral crusade in this country, and that is not killing the planet, apart from individual families, with more mouths to feed. It is giving the oppressors of this country their just desserts, it is giving the people of this country their just restitution, it is giving the very real and very born children of this country a crack at a better life.
Daang matuwid doesn’t just mean hewing to the road. It means not making people forget it.