By Robert B. Roque, Jr.
Things so terrible have been happening around us that sometimes I think — we’ve long had it coming. “Only in the Philippines,” we say — many times before with pride, but now more so with bitter irony to describe flood barriers missing significant sections, ghost projects, and the like.
We marvel at our islands, our world-class singers, our talents, our hospitable people, and our fierce spirit in sports. But lately, our Filipino pride seems choked with shame as the Senate uncovers more of the rot and ugliness of systemic theft in our government.
Even the Senate, the very institution that has rolled out the most credible investigation so far into the matter, is rocked by what now appears to be the involvement of its members as suspected key players in the grand scheme to fund projects rigged to private contractors by Department of Public Works and Highways officials who act as ”bagmen” for kickbacks.
So when earthquakes tear through Cebu, or when landslides swallow villages after days of rain, it feels almost karmic, as if nature itself has had enough of our ways of corruption dressed in public service.
In the Old Testament, God sent calamities upon Israel when injustice reigned, people cavorted with the worst of sins, and leaders betrayed the covenant. But he also sent them as a means for his saving grace. For this corrupt-ridden flood control mess, it seems even those whom the heavens had sent are being written off: first, Mayor Benjie Magalong, a key investigator of the Independent Commission on Infrastructure; and then this week, Sen. Ping Lacson, head of the Blue Ribbon Committee.
Relief goods for sale
Speaking of “only in the Philippines,” here’s another shameful rot that hogged headlines. There’s this woman caught in Tondo, Manila, selling 6,000 boxes of Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) family kits worth P15 million.
The anomaly is hair-raising as each is already marked “Not for Sale” and intended as relief goods for victims of tragic events, just like the recent quake in Cebu. The PNP’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) seized the goods from a warehouse after a late-night operation that ran until dawn.
Now, the question is: how does one ordinary citizen get hold of that much government aid without connivance from within the DSWD itself? Yes, you know just how our good people have gone from good to bad, to revoltingly ugly, when even compassion is being sold for profit. It’s no wonder heaven seems to be turning its face away from our nation.
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