[Newspoint] A clarifying moment

I can’t think of any resignation from public office that has been met with such sense of foreboding as that of Rogelio Singson.

And that shouldn’t be so hard to understand. As a member of the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI), he lent the highest credibility to the investigation into the biggest corruption scandal the nation has seen, one involving the loss to kickbacks of hundreds of billions of taxpayer pesos allocated for flood control.

But, please, stop inserting Benjamin Magalong in the picture with Singson, not even in the loosest sense of kindredship between them. Magalong had been pressured to resign as a special adviser to the ICI when his links to one of the government contractors under investigation came to light. Apart from that, he is tainted by his alliance with, and profession of undying admiration for, the disgraced former president Rodrigo Duterte, now in detention in The Hague (the Netherlands) awaiting trial by the International Criminal Court on charges of “crimes against humanity” for tens of thousands summarily killed in his war on drugs. 

Singson, on his part, possessed both the professional expertise and the integrity and conscientious approach to public service the job demanded. An industrial engineer, he served as public-works secretary to Benigno Aquino III and mirrors, personally, the quality of that presidency (2010-2016), untainted by corruption and an especially strong socio-economic performer.

That’s why Singson’s resignation is not taken against him and the reason he gave is not at all doubted. A naturally vulnerable 77-year-old suddenly thrust into an impossible job and made to carry a nation’s fears and hopes on his shoulders, he has developed, after just over three months at work, health issues that require a cocktail of maintenance medications, none of which he had any need for, not ever before.

But neither one to just up and leave and forever hold his peace — again, a habit he may have picked up working for Aquino, who stood his presidency on the principle that the people were his  ultimate “boss” — Singson spoke of things that compounded the difficulty he encountered on the job, things that in fact tied ICI’s hands. With neither the logistics nor the power to match the high promise built around it, ICI had to suffer unfair blame for falling short. Not only shorthanded, it could not even compel anyone to appear at its hearings, much less send anyone to jail, Singson said, and proceeded to give a searing analogy: “…sent to war…without weapons.”

The revelation has prodded President Ferdinand Marcos to order logistics sent, although some of it can only cover advances from private pockets. But, again, the problem is far greater than logistical. For one thing, whether Singson intended it or not, his resignation has shown Marcos to be less than sincere in his outward avowals of letting the chips fall where they may, especially now that he and some of his family have been dragged into the scandal. 

He can hide behind the rigors of evidence and, in the clinches, behind the principle of innocent until proven guilty, but that will not cut given the temper of the times. Plunder by a trillion cuts itself amounts to a crime against humanity: it constitutes condemnation of a people to death by imposed poverty. 

Marcos is not being asked to force extralegal compensation — precisely what his father did, by declaring martial law, and also Duterte, by acting on his own despotic initiative. He is only being asked to support, within his power as a democratic president, exigent legislation intended to correct the iniquitous system that has allowed corrupt politicians and their cronies to rob the nation blind. 

A plate of legislation was in fact served up for him to endorse, and two items on it should raise hopes of consequential change. One bill, which in fact he has endorsed, sets the terms of a constitutional provision, ignored all these 38 years, banning political dynasties. Its chances of passing Congress, itself 80% dynastic, hopefully are more possible now under challenge from a nation at the end of its patience.  

Not so much as remarked upon by the President is the second bill, one more specific to the issue, authored by Rep. Leila de Lima. It plugs holes that have allowed thieves in government to escape by punishing anyone found to have amassed wealth that cannot be justified by their declared legal means. 

A signed avowal should have more weight than words merely thrown in the air — “No one will be spared…not even my family” — but it’s doubtful Marcos, an heir to plunder himself, would ever deserve to be taken at his word, however it is given. These days, though, he is never deprived of the chance to try proving himself, and cleansing his ranks as matter of standing policy is always a nice option, even nicer at the moment. At least one close lieutenant, his own executive secretary, long begging to be fired, is a conspicuous holdout. 

Ralph Recto has been called out by the Supreme Court for the diversion, during his time as finance secretary, of P60 billion from the state insurer PhilHealth to the Treasury. It was “common-sense” financial management, he said, apparently unable to resist putting in the last word — but a word from someone who happens to have been found lying about his credentials. Or has all that been forgotten? In any case, held to the same standard, a finance person who misses the moral point to the matter of public health has absolutely no business presiding over the people’s money. Imagine what worse Recto yet could do as little president!

As for the Senate, for all the self-righting it has done, it has yet to fulfil one duty, one that is existential to a democracy. The Senate ought to assert its own independence by putting the Supreme Court in its place after it stuck a finger into exclusively Senate business and got the impeached Vice President Sara Duterte off on a technicality — she is accused of grand embezzlement. If for nothing else, the Senate owes it to itself, as the constitutionally designated impeachment court, to try her. 

Indeed, I see Singson’s resignation more as a clarifying moment than as a premonitory one: It pushes President Marcos to a tighter corner, puts Congress and the courts on ultimate notice, and, on the other hand, reinforces civil society’s peaceable revolt for reform. – Rappler.com