Graft and Corruption still worry businessmen

Businessmen, especially Americans still worry about rampant graft and corruption and rising prices of commodities in the Philippines. This is the latest report by AMCHAM or the American Chamber of Commerce. see link: http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/business/09/08/11/rising-costs-corruption-ph-worry-us-firms


Though 77% sees growth and onyl 2% predict contraction of the economy caused by a weak US economy, the primary concerns remain the same---graft and corruption. Whew, I thought this administration is addressing the issue of graft and corruption? Many businessmen are still encountering these same problems which bedevilled previous administrations. 


Why is corruption still there? ONE WORD--PALAKASAN. When you're near Noynoy, you're protected.


This is now the effect of President Aquino's stubbornness of sparing his boys from administrative charges. A probe found many of Aquino's men responsible for certain acts, but they remained free, thanks to the President's blanket of protection. Look at what happened in the "independent probe" of the Manila hostage crisis. It sent a wrong signal to everybody in the bureaucracy, that this administration is pliable and will protect you if you're a Kabarilan, Kaklase or Kamaganak. 


We really cannot eradicate graft and corruption if our leaders still think that they are above the law. Wangwang mentality? Tell it to Aquino and his "boys".

Walang hiya

How many more times will we allow unscrupulous men and women to trick us into believing that they are after change and not their personal interests?


Twenty five years after the first EDSA, and we feel like we are hollow inside. We are a beautiful people living in a beautiful country. We are a very decent people. Most of us are honest. Most work for every single cent that goes into feeding our families. We pay our taxes. We follow the laws. We pray to our Gods, and we lavish ourselves with praise for Him, Who lives forever.


We don't deserve these things. We don't deserve men who think of themselves as higher than us. We don't deserve men of uniform stealing billions from us. We don't deserve men wearing barongs and Amerikanas with deep pockets for keeping our monies. 


God, why do you give us evil men for officials? 


Who will protect us from our protectors?


Are these men so insensitive that they are not affected by the thought of they using other's people's monies to feed their families? Are their stomachs so strong that they can eat food they bought from illegal means?


Are these men so crass and so inhumane that they steal these monies and for what? To fatten themselves and for other people to praise them for their wealth, ill-gotten and ill-deserved?


Woe to them, those who stole our monies, our hard-earned monies. As a father, I work very hard for my salary. I work and slave myself to death just to feed my family, and here, you'll find and hear some thief working the bank and stealing everything with just one signature?


Hey, Mr. Garcia, are you listening? Hey, Mr. Reyes, are you even aware of what you did? Wala na bang hiyang natitira sa inyong dalawa? Our soldiers in the field are sacrificing their very lives just for you to live comfortably in your homes.

Who wants to curse now?

The national headlines today says that the World Bank is willing to provide more information and assistance to the Office of the Ombusman, an obvious dig at previous statements coming from some members of the Philippine Senate castigating the world body for not providing more info on the inquiry. It seems that this issue is still on the "development stage", since we expect more and more personalities to come out and expose this international shame. Senator Ping Lacson says he has at least fifty people who'll testify before the Senate on the anomalous deals entered by EC de Luna, etal with the First Gentleman, err, Golfer, the infamous FG. It's a shame to hear protestations and shouts of " I did'nt do it" when the 58 page report shows just how deep and how extensive this bribery scandal is. Why dig for evidence when the report, by itself, is proof positive that collusion did occur between FG and those construction firms.

The Senate should allow the World Bank to provide more information. However, it is important also to stress that the WB should go out of the woodwork and shed some light into this. Yes, this could be a precedent in international relations, but, this could also lead not just for the benefit of the Philippines; rather, this could pave the way for a review and enhancement of the WB policies on loan grant.

I remember an incident involving the son of former UN Chief Kofi Anan. The son was tagged as one of those who benefitted from a road project funded by the World Bank. Anan got brickbats for that and his son was, I think, castigated and reprimanded for dipping his hands on a dirty one. There is that possibility that World Bank road projects are also tainted with graft. For me, this Senate inquiry is an opportunity for the World Bank to scrutinize their processes and improve on it.

There are talks that the First Golfer Gang is doing fund-raising in "overtime mode". It's expected, says some businessmen who got the news from members of the FG Gang themselves. What is so shameful about this is the fact that some of us are willing to just "let them be". We're talking about billions of pesos here being robbed from us! And we just shrug our shoulders and say, " let them be. They stole from us these past nine years. And elections are just a few months away. What's in it for us if we throw them out now when they're now in the twilight of their rule? Let's just wait for judgment time."

It is this lameduck attitude that puts us in this shameful and lamentable position. It is as if we ran out of options already. It is as if we already gave up the ghost in this one. Why?

So, are we that willing to give these criminal geniuses billions of pesos because we are so helpless fighting them? Are we Filipinos that stupid? Or, are brains are so deadened already, swamped with all these scams, scandals and immorality plays that nothing would ever shock us?

When Senator Mar Roxas uttered those putangina words on live television, many protested. They thought that the good senator, a decent one at that, has already lost it. I think that one was just wrong timing. He cursed because of these shameful things this government is doing.

Now, will he curse again, given that this World Bank report has not just given us a blackeye--it already stamped the mark of "corruptively stupid" over the foreheads of 82 million Filipinos. Stupid because we allow ourselves to be fooled and robbed by these people who are so bold, so brazen in their corrupt acts just because they have monies and they control those who bear arms?

I condemn those who are in the highest echelons of power who turn a blind eye on this one. I curse those who turn a deaf ear on the cries of corruption when they hold the power to cure this monumental malady. Putangina ninyong lahat na nasasa kapangyarihan na walang ginagawa para tigilan na ng mga demonyong ito ang patuloy na pagpapahiya sa ating lahat sa harap ng sandaigdigan! Shame on all of you, those Filipinos who are in power, who allow these demons to do these shameful acts before the world!

I am again calling on the New Patriots of the New Generation, the YOUng who started the New Philippine Revolution. I am asking those Patriots to stand up and say to the world--Enough is Enough! We can't stand idly by while these devils pillage our life savings and rob us not just of our monies but also of our dignity as a People! While we procrastinate and sit comfortably in our chairs and just shrug our shoulders or simply close our eyes and bow our heads in shame, the darkness gets thicker and more dangerous. Curse be the darkness, we once said. Curse be Macoy who put us in utter darkness during the dictatorship. Now that we are being bastardized, raped, and fooled by these people, do we need a formal declaration of a Conjugal Dictatorship to prod us to act?