“… Public officers and employees must at all times be accountable to the people,” Article XI of the 1987 Constitution provides. And the cry of the Commander-in-Chippy/Piattos is that the Commander-in-Chief should be accountable as well. She was talking about investigating not just hers’ but the CIFs of her UniTeam mate.
I agree in part. Now, let us have an agreement about the order of priorities.
Evidence flooded in against the office of the Commander-in-Chippy/Piattos. We are just waiting for the other side for the same. Which means: Ladies first. That is alright.
Commander-in-Chippy/Piattos will not swear and curse (as if there are no schoolchildren who can listen to her who resigned from the role of Education Secretary months ago) if the allegations of her misappropriation of millions and billions are far from the truth. Their bundles of 1,000-peso bills are unimaginably collected in a day; wait there’s more. That within 11 days Commander-in-Chippy/Piattos will be able to use it in a confidential but orderly manner. Oh no, not another budol! Life in the Philippines is so difficult we are going to fool ourselves believing it was orderly. That is the reason why spent confidential funds still go through accounting processes albeit classifiably (if you will, or so long as sensitivity to determine their level of confidentiality is being observed). Besides, that is the people’s money, not from the pockets of OVP/DepEd officials.
It also has a lesson in appropriations, notably the General Appropriations Act every year. We will trust politicians with budgeting, we will also trust budget experts like CPAs, CPA-lawyers, and auditors inside and outside government.
Let us make it simple: We have a class treasurer and an auditor, even if we elect a president who is bright and kind. In every transaction, we wait for an automatic receipt from the servicing person or company.
With the fake names we have seen receiving acknowledgment receipts from Commander-in-Chippy/Piattos offices recently, it is but natural to ask questions and demand answers. The COA knows, the community blows.
Voted by 32 million people, so she is trusted? Naku naman! That’s why there is a court, an impeachment court, even a court of public opinion.
The hullaballoo in confidential and intelligence funds also imparts lessons on how we should update the punishment for the heinous crime of plunder, the presidential pardon, and the serious implementation of freedom of information (FOI). We better be on the side of caution. We waste public funds, we lose our security.
Nothing Personal?
The World Economic Forum (WEF) opined: “Corruption is a pervasive issue that undermines societies, economies, and governance. Defined as the abuse of entrusted power for personal gain, it has far-reaching consequences that go beyond financial losses. Understanding its impact and adopting strategies to fight it are critical to creating more equitable and sustainable societies.”
We are personally fighting for good governance because the personal interests of the plunderers succeed. Mas personal ang laban, mas maganda. Wala nang hiya-hiya ang mga magnanakaw sa pamahalaan.
The WEF added: “Ferreira Rubio, a global anti-corruption expert, emphasizes the importance of individual courage. The power to resist corrupt practices begins with the ability to say no, even when it feels isolating. Upholding personal integrity and refusing to participate in unethical agreements can set a powerful example and disrupt corrupt systems.”
The innovative, clever lessons of Rubio (2024) can be heard at https://www.weforum.org/videos/fighting-corruption-delia-ferreira-rubio/.
Others might say, “It’s easy to do that in their countries, in the Philippines it’s difficult.” It is not very wrong. Maling akala nga lang. It is necessary to apply both local and international practices in transparency and accountability; otherwise, we will be more of the same in the fight against corruption, poverty, and wasting what we have won in good governance matters.
DC Alviar
Professor DC Alviar serves as a member of the steering committee of the Philippine International Studies Organization (PHISO). He was part of National University’s community extension project that imparted the five disciplines of a learning organization (Senge, 1990) to communities in a local government unit. He writes and edits local reports for Mega Scene. He graduated with a master’s degree in development communication from the University of the Philippines Open University in Los Baños. He recently defended a dissertation proposal for his doctorate degree in communication at the same graduate school under a Philippine government scholarship grant. He was editor-in-chief of his high school paper Ang Ugat and the Adamson News.
