Resign, the right move for crooked officials on Aquino’s ‘daang matuwid’

Resign! This is the most decent and logical thing officials linked to reported irregularities in government can do. This will not only shield the executive department, particularly President Aquino, from criticism that could erode the people’s trust and confidence in government; more importantly, it will greatly help the chief executive in sustaining his “daang matuwid” (straight path) crusade.

When President Aquino declared his daang matuwid at the start of his administration, the people’s expectations that they would get a better deal, especially in the matter of clean, honest and responsive government, soared. They thought that with Aquino at the helm of government, graft and corruption would be a thing of the past, and his rule would be a big contrast to the unlamented, graft-ridden regime of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

But alas and alack! Recent events have proved the people’s expectations wrong, no thanks to administration officials who are either lazy, incompetent or themselves corrupt. And these officials are either former classmates of the President, or his bosom friends, or his close associates in the ruling Liberal Party.

One example is the head of a government-owned and -controlled corporation who was recently exposed as someone close to the alleged mastermind of the obnoxious pork barrel scam that robbed at least P10 billion of the people’s money. It turns out that he used to be a legal counsel for the alleged mastermind. Another example is a close friend of the President who was suspected as the point man of the “pork queen” in cornering deals involving the much-hated Priority Development Assistance Fund which, thank God and people’s vigilance, was ruled as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.

When asked by reporters what they were going to do in the face of the accusations against them, these “allies” of the President gave the same, ready answer: “I serve at the pleasure of the President. I will only leave my job if the President says so.” The gall! That standard reply puts the President on the defensive. So instead of defending the President, it’s the President defending them.

When will the negligent, irresponsible, inefficient insiders in the President’s circle of officials learn about delicadeza? And when will the President realize that some crooks in his administration are undermining his “daang matuwid” crusade, making crooked instead the straight path.

—EUSEBIO S. SAN DIEGO,  founder, Kaguro and former president, Quezon City PSTA, [email protected]