EDITORIAL - The walking/collecting/voting dead

Three senior citizens in Barangay Apas, Cebu City, along with their other fellow seniors, were reportedly able to get the latest tranche of their financial aid from the city government.

There was nothing unusual with this, except for the bizarre or perhaps even impressive fact is that the three were already reported dead.

“Ato g’yud ng ipaimbestigar karong panahona… Naa man tay City Hall resident Ombudsman pud… Ato nang gipa-imbestigar ang mga DOs and mga disbursing officers anang baranggaya aron iyang matubag unsay nahitabo nganong nakakubra man,” said the new head of the Office for the Senior Citizens Affairs, Vicente Esmeña.

Here in the Philippines it seems that the dead don’t really stay that way. Some receive money during the campaign period while others vote during the elections. Not only that, apparently some are bored with the afterlife because they still work for some government offices.

Joking aside, it is obvious that some still-living people have no qualms about using the names the dead to their own advantage.

The names of the dead are being used to get money, to vote for a certain candidate, or to pad the payroll of some offices. In short they are being used to cheat the government of money; money that came from taxes paid for by the people, and money that could have otherwise been used for other projects.

Of course, this goes without saying that using the name of the dead for nefarious purposes is very disrespectful, and even an insult to their honor. More so if the name was used to steal money.

OSCA has promised to update its list and find out who was responsible for this. Perhaps other government offices that offer financial aid should also look at their lists to see if they contain names of the deceased, and there are many such offices.

While we hope for some beyond-the-grave retribution from those whose names were used, swift justice from the government upon those still living who dared exploit the name of the dead would be more appreciated.