Helpless in Malacañang

By Artchil B. Fernandez

 

Corruption! The big C is Du30’s favorite word recently. He has been ranting and raging against corruption in his Monday evening show in the last two months, almost eclipsing the other C, the Covid-19 pandemic.

Du30 is exasperated, frustrated, infuriated and incensed of the other C pandemic ravaging his administration – corruption. Three weeks ago, Du30 revealed he offered to resign the presidency being fed-up with corruption in the government. “I offered to resign as President,” Du30 told the nation. “I had everyone [in the Cabinet] summoned. I said I was getting fed up. In my years in government, there had been no end to this [corruption]… It’s really hard to stop it. Up to now, it’s being committed every day. Can you stop it? You cannot. There’s no way, I’m telling you.”

This week, Du30’s harangue against corruption continues, this time the target is the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH). “Projects, project engineers, all of that, the road right-of-way, the corruption there is grave.  No construction begins without a transaction,” Duterte accused the agency. “There are so many officials lined up in the bureaucratic maze so I don’t know which of them are involved, even those for the medicines and all,” he said.

Combing through the 2021 DPWH budget, Sen. Panfilo Lacson flagged the 67 billion allotted for the construction of multi-purpose buildings wondering how the project can help the country recover from the Covid-19 pandemic. Lacson suspects corruption in the mangling of the agency’s original budget proposal which he “cannot be recognized anymore.” The senator attributed corruption in the DPWH to the manipulation of legislators of the budget in connivance with corrupt officials in the agency.

Before DPWH, Du30 also lambasted the worsening corruption in the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth). In one of his weekly night show, he sternly warned the officials of the agency. “Huwag kayong magkakamali. Itong PhilHealth, sabi ko: Yayariin ko kayo. Maniwala kayo… If at all possible, I’ll kill you.” Lawyer Thorrsson Montes Keith who resigned as an anti-fraud officer of PhilHealth exposed that 15 billion pesos of the agency’s fund were either wasted or stolen by corrupt officials.

Senate report on corruption in the government health insurer uncovered that “PhilHealth is hemorrhaging because of inefficient running of the corporation, compounded by corrupt practices inside.” The Senate found these anomalies in PhilHealth: disparities and favoritism in the distribution of funds under an Interim Reimbursement Mechanism (IRM), basically a system for cash advances; bloating of the planned procurement of information technology equipment, allegedly by about P734 million; manipulation of PhilHealth’s financial statements; the so-called “upcasing,” in which hospitals deliberately misrepresent the illnesses of patients in order to claim larger benefit payments; and the existence of a “mafia” within PhilHealth that perpetrates fraud and corrupt practices.

The Senate recommended the filing of criminal cases against Health Secretary Francisco Duque III and resigned PhilHealth chief Ricardo Morales as well as charges of malversation of public funds, illegal use of public funds and violation of the antigraft law against PhilHealth Executive Vice President and COO Arnel de Jesus and Senior Vice Presidents Renato Limsiaco Jr. and Israel Francis Pargas for “improper and illegal implementation” of the IRM and for “grave abuse of discretion or gross negligence in ascertaining the IRM beneficiary without valid criteria for distribution.”

Massive and staggering corruption in government forced Du30 to publicly complain, portraying himself as an anti-corruption crusader. Something is amiss in his public tirade against corruption in government.

First, who is the head of the government? Isn’t it Du30 himself? He is fuming against corruption in his own administration and appears powerless against the scourge. Is Du30 helpless in Malacañang? Despite the awesome power of the presidency at his disposal, Du30 acts like he is inutile in combating corruption within his administration.

By admitting he is helpless against corruption, Du30 is indicting himself and his administration. His rants are nothing but play-acting, part of his “performative governance” designed to deflect the blame on his failure to curb corruption.

One major factor why corruption flourishes in the government is Du30’s habit of exonerating top officials in agencies where corruption is endemic. Despite the strong public call for the removal of Duque as Health Secretary, Du30 adamantly refused, even defending Duque amid the myriad of corruption allegations. He also excused DPWH Secretary Mark Villar of the corruption in the agency claiming he is from a rich family.

What happened to the “not a whiff of corruption” vow of Du30? He said he will not hesitate to fire officials on the hint of corruption. These officials should be held accountable for failing to curb corruption in their agencies by virtue of command responsibility. Du30 himself is responsible for the massive corruption in his administration since he appointed these officials to their posts. He cannot claim impotence in the fight against corruption.

There is something Du30 can do about corruption if he is really serious in the fight against it. In his pet project, the war on drugs, he mobilized all the resources of government, slaughtered thousands of Filipinos and courted international condemnation to prosecute the program. Why can’t he execute the drive against corruption with the same zeal if he is really determined in wiping it out?

Truth is, Du30 is only feigning helplessness against corruption and his anti-corruption rage is nothing but a fake crusade.