Culture of impunity
If this administration has learned any lesson from the history of social upheavals in this country, it would give serious consideration to the sentiments of major business groups. In a paid advertisement that came out yesterday, the Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines, the Makati Business Club and Management Association of the Philippines, together with two other groups, condemned the “growing culture of impunity” in government “that appears to have spread to an extent exceeding that of all past administrations.” That is a damning observation that cannot be ignored.The business groups singled out the government’s $330-million broadband deal with Chinese firm ZTE Corp., which Commission on Elections Chairman Benjamin Abalos allegedly brokered in exchange for favors and a possible huge kickback from ZTE. The businessmen urged Abalos to resign and Transport and Communications Secretary Leandro Mendoza to rescind the deal.
After surviving two impeachment attempts and seeing Filipinos lose their appetite for people power despite allegations that she cheated her way to a six-year term, President Arroyo should resist the temptation to behave as if she and her officials can now do anything they want, without worrying about public accountability. As the business groups have pointed out, if the President cannot “rectify blatant wrongdoings of public officials,” she could be accused of condoning them.
Already the President’s former socio-economic planning secretary Romulo Neri has said he had informed her of a P200-million bribe offer to approve the ZTE deal. Bribery is a criminal offense, yet the President reportedly ordered Neri to simply ignore the offer and approve the deal anyway. The other day, amid allegations of corruption and overpricing, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita announced that the ZTE deal would push through. Finance officials had earlier said the deal was not yet final.
Taxpayers, who will bear the burden of repaying a $330-million foreign debt, with interest, for the next two decades, have yet to see exactly what Mendoza had signed with ZTE executives in Boao, China last April in the presence of President Arroyo. The lost document is supposed to have been reconstituted. Why is it so difficult to bare this document to the public? If the President goes along with this policy of secrecy, suspicion will inevitably focus on how high up the alleged anomalies go. A culture of impunity cannot flourish without blessings from the top.
