Whatever happened to Butuan fire probe?

“We’ve cracked the code,” defense lawyers proclaimed over the weekend. Citing accountants’ analyses, they supposedly will be able to disprove this week the testimony of Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales. Contrary to the anti-graft investigator, they say, their client impeached Chief Justice Renato Corona does not own 82 accounts in five banks. Their calculations will show only “three to four accounts,” the lawyers beamed.

The defense’s self-satisfaction worried congressmen-prosecutors about the promised appearance of Corona at the witness stand Tuesday. The figure — three to four — is tentative, they noted. It hints that the top magistrate might rely on third parties, not personal avowal, to explain if he had fudged and thus hid his mandatory asset reports. The defense also skirted the Ombudsman’s revelation of $12-million (P512-million) fresh deposits by Corona, the prosecutors said. On testimony day, they would have to find ways to redirect Corona towards his signed cash-in-bank of only P3.5 million in 2010.

Meanwhile, senator-judges seem focused not so much on hidden wealth than on honest declaration of assets. No need for outsiders to crack any supposed code, Sen. Franklin Drilon said. All he wants to know, straight from Corona, is whether he has dollar accounts, how much, and if accurately declared. Sen. Sergio Osmeña III said Corona would do well to waive his right to secrecy of dollar deposits, if only to show willingness to tell the whole truth.

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In June 2010 was launched in India an Internet movement against corruption. Dubbed “I Paid A Bribe,” it urges citizens to expose extortion by government men to do their jobs. Incidents are narrated in detail, to shame and prosecute offenders. The slice of bribes on small-business profits, and percentage of kickbacks on government budgets are computed. The movement has been successful in its primary aim: to empower the little folk against the high and might. Would it work in the Philippines?

A recent survey by the National Statistics Office shows that nine in ten Filipinos do not pay bribes. The questionnaire to 26,000 respondents highlights Metro Manilans, followed by Southern Tagalogs, to be the least likely to pay extra just to make a government man serve him.

Of Filipinos who do pay bribes, one in five says they were forced to do so. Four in five admit they paid up even without being asked.

What immediately comes to mind is the jeepney driver who pays “tong” to the traffic cop, to be let to fill up passengers in the no-parking zone. Both reckless driver and corrupt policeman benefit from the racket.

There are more of them: the illegal sidewalk vendor and the abetting municipal officer, the negligent building owner and the fire inspector, the profiteering contractor and the city engineer. Lives and limbs are lost because of their mutual greed.

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Whatever happened to the investigation of the dawn fire in Butuan City in which 17 female workers were killed the other Wednesday? Have arson probers ascertained initial reports that the victims were trapped on the top floor of the three-story Novo Jeans and Shirts factory? Is it true that they were locked up in the sleeping quarters to prevent pilferage and unauthorized movement inside the building? Is it true too that the factory had no fire exits, extinguishers and drills, in violation of safety laws? If so, have the employers and fire inspectors been made to explain the fatal lapses? Have families of the fatalities been recompensed for their loss, or at least apprised of whatever judicial actions?

These questions beg answering because human lives have been lost, relatives have been deprived of loved ones, and wrongs need to be righted. That the victims were uncelebrated farm lasses who had sought work in the city does not diminish the value of their lives. Butuan’s being 800 kilometers from Manila does not exempt local officials from updating the rest of the country, through the capital, on developments. Neither may distance excuse the central government from exacting corrective and punitive liability.

National and city officials can pick up lessons from the aftermath of the New York City fire of March 1911. More so since, there are many similarities with the Butuan fire of May 9, 2012. In that U.S. blaze at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, 146 workers, most young women, died. Nearly all were recent Jewish or Italian immigrants, who were trapped in the ninth floor workplace. The stairwells were padlocked against theft and unauthorized entry. Fire hoses had no water; escape ladders were inadequate; there was only one fire escape for the ten-story building; the no-smoking rule was never obeyed; workers had not been practiced to fight and escape from fire.

Swift, intense police investigations ensued. Civic and church leaders made known their displeasure with profiteers from “human energy.” Narratives were taken to determine how each of the 146 victims perished. No sweeping excuses were entertained about alleged panic or electricity shutoff or absent emergency supervisors. Prosecutors pinpointed criminal liability on the factory owners and city hall inspectors, while city officials sought long-term solutions. What followed was one of the most famous trials in U.S. history, as well as sweeping changes for occupational health and safety, not to mention higher factory wages and shorter workdays. Last year the U.S. marked the fire’s centenary not just by honoring the victims but also by committing to prevent any more such disasters.

If Philippine national and local officials do not bother to learn the causes and effects, they will never be able to avert similar events. Perhaps labor federations should step up the pressure.

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Overseas readers have been inquiring if and when Exposés: Investigative Reporting for Clean Government will be available in e-book format. Anvil Publishing boss Karina Bolasco says they’re working on it, and will make announcements soon. Meantime, the compilation of my selected columns on major government anomalies in the past decade is available at National Bookstore and Powerbooks.

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Catch Sapol radio show, Saturdays, 8-10 a.m., DWIZ, (882-AM).

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