Graft and corruption in government

By Herbert Vego

WHY do the words “graft” and “corruption” go together as if it were a singular word in exposing the evils in government?

Graft, according to the dictionary, means the acquisition of money or any other material gain in dishonest or questionable ways. It is the exploitation of others for personal gain or advantage.

Corruption refers to dishonest or illegal behavior especially by powerful people.

Therefore, there is graft and corruption in bribery, extortion, thievery, and nepotism, which are characterized by the subordination of public interest to private interest regardless of harm suffered by the people.

Is there graft and corruption in the government of President Rodrigo Duterte?  Yes, according to Duterte himself in his State of the Nation (SONA) last Monday.

“Corruption is endemic in government,” he said. “You cannot stop corruption. Nobody can stop corruption unless we overturn the government completely.”

He proceeded to advise the next president to declare martial law and “change everybody in the system.”

Wrong! Under the 1987 Constitution, the President may only proclaim martial law in case of foreign invasion and rebellion when public safety requires it.

Ouch! His advice could discourage voters from choosing his candidate.  We are supposedly a democratic nation, and yet the system of check and balance no longer works.

That SONA was a shocking admission of Duterte’s own failure in governance under one-man rule. We all know that some, if not all of his appointees to important positions, have committed unrestrained graft and corruption, only to be “kicked up” to other government offices.

He hates illegal drugs kuno?

Is that why some 8,000 people have been killed in his controversial war on drugs since 2016? According to the Philippine Information Agency (PIA), the Philippines National Police (PNP) has conducted over 234,000 operations that arrested more than 357,000 suspects. While the PNP invokes “self-defense” in the “extra-judicial killings,” human rights groups claim otherwise.

However, only one case has resulted in the conviction of three police officers accused in the murder of 17-year-old Kian delos Santos, whom the court found innocent of peddling shabu.

But why do the biggest drug lords in the country enjoy freedom from arrest? Remember, suspected drug lord Peter Lim first broke into the front pages of the newspapers when he paid a visit to the President in July 2016.

In June this year, Lim slipped out the country through the back door. According to Maj. Gen. Albert Ignatius Ferro, director of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), the elusive fugitive might have escaped via the backdoor.

The government has never identified the big drug lord behind the smuggling of 604 kilograms of shabu from China found in a warehouse in Valenzuela City on May 26, 2017. The price of shabu now averages ₱4,000 per gram or ₱4 million per kilo.

Two massive drug shipments concealed in magnetic lifters – one believed to be worth ₱11 billion and the other, ₱2.4 billion – slipped into the country in June 2018.

Those incidents invoked the image of government officials accepting millions of pesos from a drug dealer. It reminds us of the saying, “What are we in power for?”

The quotation was attributed to Senate President Jose Avelino during a dinner party in Malacañang Palace way back in January 1949, where the then President Elpidio Quirino was inquiring about money-making activities of government officials under investigation.

As reported by the papers, Avelino joked, “Why should we pretend to be saints when in reality we are not? We are not angels. When we die we will all go to hell. It is better to be in hell because in that place there are no investigations.”

His fellow senators did not take that statement sitting down. They investigated Avelino, found him guilty of tax evasion and sentenced him to one year’s suspension.

Those in political power today must have imbibed the same “philosophy” that contravenes the principle that a public office is a public trust.

Corruption breeds technical malversation, enabling corrupt officials to steal a portion of money allocated to public works. Oh well, you have heard about farm-to-market roads changing into “farm-to-pocket loads”.

We call a government worker “corrupt” whenever he accepts money – big or small — in exchange for a pay-off.  The crime is bribery when initiated by the giver, extortion when demanded by the receiver.

There is a law, Republic Act No. 3019 (the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act) that punishes the convicted accused, usually as a result of persuading, inducing or influencing another public officer to perform an offense in the performance of duties.

Sad to say, the law has been flagrantly violated.  This is very apparent in biddings for government projects or services, where contractors and suppliers connive among themselves in such a way that the pre-determined “winning bidder” shares his profit with the “losers”.

Rampant graft and corruption take place during election period. The politicians pay commercial pollsters for fake surveys announcing leading candidates, and the pollsters pay the media outlets to publish or announce these surveys to influence public opinion.

The Venezuela-based Smartmatic as provider of the vote-counting machines is widely perceived to be in cahoots with corrupt commissioners of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in the proclamation of winning candidates. Thus, despite public demand for its replacement, it has signed another contract with the Comelec for P402-million ($8.4-million) to provide software for the 2022 presidential polls.

The “unholy trinity” consisting of pollsters, Smartmatic and Comelec must be one of the reasons why Vice-President Leni Robredo has not yet made up her mind to run for President.  In that case, shouldn’t she lead the public outcry against them?

Well, that’s something the Ocho Deretso surprisingly failed to do.

Bakit kaya?