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The fall of Ferdinand Marcos and his type of corruption
(concentrated at the top level) unleashed a new form of official
graft that was widespread and across-the-bureaucracy. Public coffers used
to be for Marcos and his cronies exclusively—they were the
forbidden apple in the garden of Eden for the rest of the
bureaucracy.
The ascendancy of a new government meant a sense
of liberation, the rush of energy directed not at building a nation
with a new moral order but at democratized pillaging. The enactment
of the Local Government Code made sure that corruption was institutionalized
down to the barangay level.
For the still idealistic few who are either
too young and too clueless to understand the reign of greed at
present, this is the genesis of the explosion of official corruption
after the fall of Marcos in 1986. Tens of thousands of dirty little
hands filled up the void of the few but insatiable Marcos-era
kleptomaniacs.
So as things stand now, there is
corruption from the bottom to the highest level of government.
Try getting a barangay permit. Try securing a broadband deal. There
is a single refrain: What is in there for me?
With this sad,
enough-to-make-us-flee-the-country type of corruption, what do we
do?
Minting a new law on corruption as the Arroyo
government suggests is not the answer to the endemic, dehumanizing
official corruption. The present body of anti-corruption laws is
enough. Anything else would be superfluous. The Arroyo government
has also lost the moral ascendancy to lead the fight
against corruption.
The key is implementing the present body of laws
with the unflinching zeal of the original zealots.
The Plunder Law is enough deterrent against
big-time crooks at the level of Erap and Marcos, and the confederacy
of crooks with the present government.
The Government Procurement Act, passed a few
years back, covers almost all the areas that can be rigged in
government bids and awards. The law broadens the pool of bidders. It
essentially outlaws negotiated contracts and simplified bidding. It
has a strong prebid and prequalification standards.
It uses the tools of modern information
and communication technology to make bidding and awards work
transparent.
There is one provision that still has to be
amended, the provision that gives preference to local contractors
(covering projects worth P5 million and below) in case the
tenders quoted by a local contractor and an outside contractor are
of the same amount or are of the same terms. But on the whole, the
law, if only implemented with zeal, is enough deterrent against
manipulated public bids.
On foreign deals and agreements, the example set
by the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA)
should be followed. The agreement states that “ each country
(Japan and the Philippines) shall ensure measures are taken to
prevent and combat corruption regarding matters covered by the
Agreement.”
The JPEPA is broken down into 15 general topics,
one titled Government Procurement. This was specifically put in
place to make sure that the deals and the undertakings under the
JPEPA are to be imbued with a sense of integrity, accountability and
transparency.
I don’t know if all present-day bilateral
agreements are crafted like the JPEPA. But the built-in provisions
that seek to ensure the integrity of all activities that are to be
pursued under it are worth emulating, especially in this time and
context of ZTE. The agreement goes beyond expanding and liberalizing
movement of goods and services.
The Philippine Congress has ratified the UN
anti-corruption convention. Congress is likewise a founding and
active member of the Global Organization of Parliamentarians Against
Corruption (GOPAC). If it can just live up with this global
commitment and use the linkage offered by GOPAC effectively, it
can be a potent tool in combating corruption.
We really don’t need sanctimonious hypocrites
lecturing us about corruption. Neither is there a need for more
laws. We have the laws, the role models, the institutions to reverse
the rotting core. We just need to make our laws and
institutions work.
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