Foot-dragging
Last Thursday, officials of the Presidential Anti-Graft Commission expressed frustration over the slow pace of the Office of the President in acting on 90 cases filed by the commission. The following day, Malacañang denied that it was sitting on 90 cases; it said that only 35 cases were pending. It said that four Cabinet officials had been recommended for punishment.But even if the actual total is 35, that’s still 35 unresolved cases too many. Only two officials have been dismissed so far: National Labor Relations Commission Chair Victoriano Calaycay and Dominador Ferrer Jr., chief of the Intramuros Administration. Calaycay was sacked for allegedly demanding P200,000 from a recruitment agency that he was helping to obtain a license from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration. The PAGC found Ferrer liable for an unliquidated P2.2-million cash advance used for the eviction of squatters.
The Calaycay and Ferrer cases are relatively petty cases when you compare them with high-profile cases that are still pending up to now. These include the plunder case against former President Joseph Estrada, the P1.3-billion poll automation contract of the Commission on Elections that was nullified by the Supreme Court, the P728-million fertilizer fund scam involving former Agriculture Undersecretary Jocelyn “Joc-Joc" Bolante and the $2-million bribery charge against former Justice Secretary Hernando Perez. And now there is that $329-million broadband agreement between the Department of Transportation and Communication and an allegedly notorious Chinese company.
Cases like those mentioned above were among those that probably led 1,476 expatriate businessmen in Asia to give the Philippines the worst rating of 9.4 (out of a possible 10 for the worst) in the poll conducted by the Hong Kong-based Political and Economic Risk Consultancy last March. Based on the summary given by PERC, Agence France Presse wrote a story saying that “foreign businessmen perceive[d] the Philippines to be the most corrupt economy among 13 countries and territories across Asia." Two months later, PERC said it did not single out the Philippines as the most corrupt country in Asia.
But the perception remains, and now the Philippines has the dubious distinction of being one of the most corrupt countries in Asia. If this perception remains, one of the major causes is probably the snail’s pace at which major corruption cases are being resolved. For instance, no Cabinet or Cabinet-level official has so far been penalized, although four such officials have been recommended “for punitive action," according to the PAGC.
The corruption trial of Estrada has been dragging on for more than six years. Recently, when it was disclosed that a decision could be expected in two months, fear was expressed in official circles that whichever way the decision went, there would be tumult and disorder all over the land. Fear of disorder should not be used as a basis for deciding a corruption case. The primary considerations should be: (1) Is there enough evidence to convict the accused? (2) Will the decision do justice to both the accused and the people against whom the wrong was allegedly committed?
In its report, PERC said that the corruption situation in the Philippines “is bad and has been bad all along. People are just growing tired of the inaction and insincerity of leading officials when they promise to fight corruption." Robert Broadfoot, PERC managing director, cited specifically the unresolved corruption case of Estrada and the opposition’s [corruption and electoral fraud] charges against President Arroyo."
The lack of closure in the high-profile cases, among other things, is what fuels the perception that the present administration is insincere in its protestations that it is determined to stamp out corruption. Broadfoot said credible corruption trials could convince businessmen that the Philippines is serious about fighting corruption.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo could begin setting the house in order by agreeing to the setting up of an independent commission composed of private individuals of unimpeachable integrity that will resolve, once and for all, the corruption and electoral fraud charges against her and by ordering the quick resolution of major cases on which the administration has been dragging its feet. A government cannot fight corruption with flowery, illusive rhetoric.
