take the money and run

“Magsasalita ako laban sa katiwalian at pagsasamantala

Hindi ko gagamitin ang aking panunungkulan

Sa sarili kong kapakanan

Hindi ako hihingi o tatanggap ng suhol”

Every Monday morning, without fail all government workers would recite “Panunumpa ng Kawani ng Gobyerno” during their weekly morning rituals.  (In our case, even if it rains, we’ll have our flag ceremonies indoor.)  The inclusion of the recitation of this pledge, I just learned, was first observed in 1995.  It was a reform mechanism aimed at reorienting the work attitude of government officials and employees by constantly reminding them of how they must conduct themselves as public servants to bring about a more responsive, efficient and commitment public service” (DepEd Order No. 15, s. 1995).

If only this oath has been taken seriously to heart, President Rodrigo Duterte—and, of course, all other presidents after Fidel V. Ramos—would have been deprived of one of his two winning campaign promises of ridding the bureaucracy of graft and corruption.  The other, of course, is eliminating criminality and freeing the country from the clutches of illegal drugs whose proliferation now appears intertwined with graft and corruption.

I voted for him solely on the merit of that promise.  I was among the millions that were neck deep in exasperation with crime and corruption and opted to forego my usual stringent selection process of looking and analyzing the candidates’ political platforms, or what could have passed as ones.  I totally agreed with a professor of a local university—in Angeles City—that any candidate can just commission a good undergraduate political science student to come up with his/her political platform.  But, at the rate election promises are customarily treated, these political platforms will end up in trash bins as soon as the candidates are elected into office—if not much earlier as soon as they’re made public.

Without these two issues and how he conveyed them to the people, President Duterte would have not captured the imagination of the masses and catapulted him to the country’s highest political post.  Most likely, he’ll just be a mere footnote in rural politics known for his unconventional, but relatively effective, approach in keeping peace and order in Davao City.

With more or less 10,000 lives, practically all poor, prematurely snuffed out gangland style, there seems to be no end in sight for this social malaise.  Yes, it’s true, there was “relative calm” early on during the “Operation Tokhang", but Duterte himself unashamedly, albeit reluctantly, admitted that he cannot lick this malaise even at the end of his term.

 Which brings me to his pronouncement during the 37^th Principal Training and Development and National Board Conference Program in Davao City last 5 May 2018 where he said, “I was the only one carrying the message that was appropriate at that time: corruption, drugs.  I won’t hold back on that, my God.  If you are into corruption, just leave.  I’ll give you time.  For those into it now, in government, published or otherwise, may you have the sense just to tender your resignation”.  (Philippine Star, May 7, 2018).  But, did the erring public servants heeded and took seriously his declaration “to just leave their posts quietly, as he stressed that he would not let up his anticorruption campaign”.

More than a month after his “plea to leave” was announced, no families of government workers have yet to be shown on national television anguishing over the death of what to them were their morally upright and innocent relatives.  What we saw were a few corruption-tainted under and assistant secretaries terminated—but who had the gall to claim they voluntarily resigned—and a couple or two more being asked to tender their courtesy resignations.  Unlike the poor suspected drug pushers, no public servant has yet to be sent to Kingdom Come on mere suspicion.

Is this fair?

Obviously, not.  This only highlights further the divide between the haves and the have nots.  The poor have nots are summarily executed and waylaid gangland style in dimly lit street corners. The haves government officials, on the other hand, are rewarded with time to savor the loots and fruits of criminal adventurisms.

This leaves the old man to believe that Duterte’s justice is no different from others before him.  The promised change evidently does not hold true with this one.  Had it been different and, more importantly, if he really walks the talk, he would also be grieving the loss of his vice mayor-son—who’s implicated over the attempted mind-boggling six-billion shabu smuggling.

With this ambivalent early unfolding of events as backdrop, will the people in government who are into corruption cringe in fear and heed his plea?  Will this put a stop to bureaucratic graft and corruption, even if only momentarily, like what his “Operation Tokhang” did to the drug trade?

What this this old sad man is sure of is, that like the drug menace, the president will not be able to lick graft and corruption in government.  His kid’s glove treatment of high-profile corrupt public servants will never deter and will hardly dent the brazenness of others to follow their lucratively criminal adventurisms. (30)