Gov't often run like hell - Estrada

The government has often been run like hell, and undoing the damage needs a lot of work.

This was President Estrada's response yesterday to a call from World Bank president James Wolfensohn to address corruption and promote transparency and public accountability in government.

The response was borrowed from Commonwealth President Manuel L. Quezon, who once said he preferred "a government run like hell by Filipinos to one run like heaven by the Americans."

Quezon at the time was negotiating for Philippine independence from the United States.

Mr. Estrada rued how "prophetic" Quezon's words were, as the government has often been run like hell.

Presidential Spokesman Fernando Barican clarified that Mr. Estrada was referring largely to the Marcos regime, when corruption brought the country to the brink of ruin.

Barican also said the President was not trying to tell Wolfensohn to stop meddling in Philippine affairs.

The President said Filipinos embraced even a government run like hell because that is way of democracy.

"In pursuit of political and economic freedom, we have to fit the concept of democracy into our unique cultural and political style," he said.

He added that Filipinos will defend their freedom even if democracy's warts slow down the nation's pace in international competition.

Mr. Estrada said the country cannot keep in step with globalization that is being dictated by economically advanced nations.

Wolfensohn said progress would follow if the government would be more transparent and accountable.

"I would urge you to think about transparency and accountability in doing things," he said in his remarks. "Do it how ever convenient it is for you, Philippine-style."

The WB president also clarified that he is not making any suggestions or recommendations, but was telling the people that the issues he had just presented were based on international experiences.

Mr. Estrada then reiterated his directive to government personnel to simplify their procedures and make them transparent because corruption flourishes in a maze of regulations.

"Because corruption thrives in vagueness and needless complexity, the four guiding principles of fairness, accuracy, speed and transparency, or FAST, must be observed in transacting business," he said.