Indicia of corruption

The image of our country has just received two serious blows. I wrote about the first as soon as the Millennium Challenge Corporation reported its endorsement to foreign fund sources against allocations for the Philippines. It reportedly anchored such adverse comment on the prevailing graft and corrupt practices in our government. While such a negative rating was quite unfair to the many honest Filipinos in and out of public service, it unquestionably put an indelible international recognition to our reputed nefarious ways. We have, implied from such unpalatable endorsement, become a country of plunderers!

The second ignominious indictment was far more serious because it came from an unimpeachable source, the World Bank. In withholding any fund intended for our country's developmental projects, the World Bank alluded to the existence of alleged gang of corrupt contractors. It reportedly knew of the collusion of these contractors in cornering foreign funded projects. Naturally, a collusion could only mean criminal bloating of costs or of delivering an inferior work that, in either case, could only be detrimental to us.

Names of alleged irresponsible parties were mentioned. That, in effect spared the more honest ones. But, quite unfortunately, beyond the identification of erring corporations, the world bank's action, cast a much more humiliating perception of the prevalence of corrupt highly placed individuals. How else? Private contractors, of the dirty kind, could only thrive in cahoots with high strung and well-connected personalities.

I have not heard much from Her Excellency, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. It is probable that Malacañang does not know what to do with this libelous imputation for which reason it has decided to keep its mouth shut or it hopes that by being silent, the issue may just be buried by other events and assigned to the bin of our notorious forgetfulness. Sadly, either way, Malacañang errs.

Initial reports have indicated that only a handful of personalities have come across the names of these identified allegedly erring contractors. This brings us to the conclusion that, if true that they are corrupt practitioners, their clique must be so secretive and their system almost flawless. They must have kept their activities so confined to them that others have not become wary of their existence. Did not Sen. Panfilo Lacson, in a news report, hint that it was only an unexpected operations glitz that betrayed the cover of these probable pillagers?

I, for one, am of the belief that it is quite impossible for this cabal to be able to corner huge projects without anyone in the public hierarchy noticing what is going on. High government officials are not nincompoops. They occupy sensitive public positions because they are knowledgeable. Surely, they must have seen these irregularities. Who knows, if they were participants, they have their documentary tracts covered very well? That being the case, they may have tolerated the corruption because of some direct benefits or from instructions of individuals of well nigh absolute power and influence.

Public perception is, sadly, against government and officials on both accounts. People believe that, for one, benefits received personally by officials from corrupt contractors and for another, protection from the powers-that-be breed the prevailing culture of corruption. Ironically, because of the combined pernicious effects of these factors, the corrupt do their thing with apparent impunity. They feel secure in the effectiveness of their safety nets and the protective mantle of their powerful godfathers as well.

The World Bank, in rattling off the names of few probable practitioners of graft, has actually indicated where the fountain of corruption really lies. Look at the other high profile cases of Virgilio Garcillano, Hernani Perez, Carlos Garcia, (the general, not the president), and Jocylen Bolante, to name a few. The World Bank must have factored these cases and it must have considered that all of these incidents took place in the watch of President Arroyo. So, is it saying that we have here an irrefutable indication of corruption? Just asking.

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