During last February’s Malacañang press briefing, no less than Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan identified Zamboanga del Sur as the poorest among the country’s poor provinces.
The present economic condition of Zamboanga del Sur is a classic example of what President Aquino posited in his 2010 presidential run: “Walang mahirap kung walang kurap” (There’s no poverty where there’s no corruption or Nobody is poor where nobody is corrupt). This the President’s Liberal Party reaffirmed in the 2013 election campaign, with its “daang matuwid” mantra.
“Walang mahirap kung walang kurap” is nowhere showcased better than in Zamboanga del Sur.
On Jan. 24, 2013, we filed a plunder case against the Cerilleses. Their half-a-century-plus graft-ridden governance of the province has plunged the ZamboSurians to abject poverty. But more than a year after its filing, the case (docketed FF-C-13-0068/FF-C-13-0069) has not moved from the fact-finding stage. And while the Office of the Ombudsman goes through the process of ascertaining the veracity of our complaints, ZamboSurians are sinking deeper into poverty.
Thus, next year and every year thereafter, unless President Aquino intervenes, Balisacan (or whoever heads the National Economic and Development Authority) will continue to report
Zamboanga del Sur’s indigence.
—ROGELIO P. MONTEALTO,
provincial budget officer,
PEDRO D. RAMIREZ JR.,
OIC-provincial treasurer, BERNADETTE R. ORDOÑEZ, provincial accountant,
Whistle-blowers of the Province
of Zamboanga del Sur,
c/o Vera Cruz Legal &
Accounting Office,
6 Onyx St., Northview I,
Batasan Hills,
Diliman, Quezon City