Waste not, want not

When I was a child in Tacloban, the leading national magazine, the Philippines Free Press, blasted on its cover a corruption case that was considered a national scandal. It featured a few hundred thousand pesos worth of office supplies that the courts found overpriced; and some people we knew, including the provincial treasurer who belonged to a respected family, lost their jobs. I do not remember if anyone went to jail.

Later, because no one went to jail for corruption over billions of pesos during the Marcos Sr. era, politicians and bureaucrats became bolder and shameless.

Today, corruption cases run to the billions of pesos, and the taxpaying public has become so desensitized by the prevalence of such stories — such as the P10-billion Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) pork barrel scams — that even those who have been accused, convicted and/or detained for some years, such as Juan Ponce Enrile, Jinggoy Estrada, and Bong Revilla, have been elected to the senate. Bong Revilla was acquitted by the Sandiganbayan, but was ordered to return P124 million to the national treasury; meanwhile his chief of staff died in jail. It seems that former Senate President Enrile’s Chief of Staff, who was convicted, has been released from jail before her sentence ends, in consideration of her “suffering” as a senior. The brilliant lawyer Enrile, who defends himself, is keeping a job as President Marcos Junior’s presidential legal counsel while the Supreme Court deliberates on his demand for a “bill of particulars” on his plunder case in relation to the PDAF scams. Although Janet Napoles, the mastermind and main beneficiary of the PDAF scams, is in jail, too much government money can no longer be recovered. And too many politicians and bureaucrats who benefited from such scams are still in office.

Meanwhile, our fishermen and farmers who produce our food continue to remain poor — their children suffering physical stunting and low IQs due to poor nutrition — even as the PDAF scams cheated them of funds meant for inputs, with fake NGOs and ghost LGUs having been used as supposed distributors.

Aside from corruption, there is waste. Let us look at one instance of wasted taxpayer funds, which civic leader and educator-philanthropist Gus Go has blamed for our nation’s undeserved poverty: Government auditors have uncovered a warehouse full of undistributed computers supposedly intended to be given to public school teachers. These have probably turned obsolete, given trends in IT equipment — if they still work at all. That’s so much waste. Yet another handicap for our overworked teachers and poorly educated students.

Another example of possible waste of money: How many deputy speakers are funded from special allocations by our lower house? Deputy speakers are supposed to take over when the Speaker is absent. Last we checked, there were nine deputy speakers. Congress meets for only three days a week. That is 156 days a year! That means each deputy speaker gets to serve for two days per year, assuming the Speaker is absent once every three weeks. That is an expense funded by millions of pesos in taxpayer’s money.

A newer wasteful scandal, a really horrible one, is the Pharmally procurement of medicines and personal safety equipment as a response to the COVID-19 crisis. The Department of Health allowed the Budget department to set aside special funds from which to issue purchase orders. It turns out that the medicines came short of specifications, the quality of the Personal Protective Equipment or PPE was poor, etc., etc. And now we learn that Tony Yang, a brother of former President Rodrigo Duterte’s economic adviser, the Chinese citizen Michael Yang, was allegedly behind the huge bonanza. Making money at the expense of the people’s health during a pandemic is an unforgiveable crime. We cannot let this go. We must identify the culprits and their friends, and they must be penalized for their horrible deeds.

Our economy is growing faster than most countries in the world today. Thanks in large part to the sacrifice of our overseas workers who send dollars home to their families here. They suffer separation from their spouses and children, and too many families are broken from the long separations. They suffer while a few politicians and bureaucrats enjoy their stolen money. This is adding to the injustices that are more and more prevalent.

Today, when we look at surveys on top senatorial bets for next year’s elections, it is saddening to note that the likely winners are not the kind of people who will initiate reforms. Bong Revilla and Jinggoy Estrada are expected to get reelected. And we are not sure that even one of the good guys in the opposition, including Leila de Lima, Kiko Pangilinan, Bam Aquino, and Chel Diokno, will be able to get elected.

We need miracles. We need to pray and work hard and help them overcome the ignorance of the majority of voters. Reporter Nancy Carvajal of the Inquirer was the one who exposed the investigation of the PDAF scams by the National Bureau of Investigation in 2013. Independent journalists can be a big help in monitoring and exposing the misuse of taxpayers’ money. We must also learn to master social and new media to counter misinformation by corrupt officials.

Teresa S. Abesamis is a former professor at the Asian Institute of Management and Fellow of the Development Academy of the Philippines.

tsabesamis0114@yahoo.com