ICI, a Marcos decoy
It is not right to pass the responsibility to your colleague. You cannot pass it to your vice president. That is moral cowardice.
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It is not right to pass the responsibility to your colleague. You cannot pass it to your vice president. That is moral cowardice.
The creation of the Independent Commission on Infrastructure (ICI) has drawn sharp criticism as nothing more than a Palace damage-control ploy, meant to deflect public outrage over the trillion-peso flood control scandal, while giving the real culprits, namely the Executive through the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) and the legislators, an exit hatch.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is directly culpable for the fiasco over insertions in the 2025 national budget, made up mostly of spurious flood control projects, since he had the opportunity to disallow the pet projects, but he only vetoed P29 billion.
Former Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio placed the blame squarely on President Marcos for the manipulation of the budget, since, in a way, he allowed the insertion of about P421 billion in the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) budget.
The ever-expanding list of investigations into the flood control scandal, most recently by the ICI, is fueling suspicions of a cover-up rather than appeasing an outraged public.
The move to expose the cornering of flood control deals by 15 contractors has turned out to be a preemptive move to deflect blame from President Marcos, but it does not absolve him and his cohorts from culpability, according to Carpio.
“Remember, former Public Works and Highways Secretary Manuel Bonoan said the House and the Senate inserted P450 billion worth of public works funds into his department, but President Marcos vetoed only P29 billion. So that veto was just window dressing,” Carpio said.
The late Vice President Salvador Laurel, as head of the Nacionalista Party, delivered a powerful speech in a debate for the 1992 presidential polls, declaring that the buck stops with the president.
The maxim was popularized by the late US President Harry S. Truman. He had a sign with that phrase on his desk in the Oval Office to emphasize that he accepted ultimate responsibility for decisions made during his presidency.
Laurel began his speech by stating that the solution to the country’s deep-seated problems lies in the “power of example.”
“He who hopes to clean up the government must himself be clean. A person who has dirty hands cannot clean the government,” he said firmly. At that time, the nation was about to have its first presidential election after the People Power revolt of 1986, under a new Constitution ratified in 1987.
Laurel pointed out, “A person who has a dirty record cannot expect that he will clean the government. A person who needs to clean must be clean.”
For the reasons he cited, Laurel said the president himself must assume full responsibility for the eradication of graft and corruption.
“It is not right to pass the responsibility to your colleague. You cannot pass it to your vice president. That is moral cowardice. Moral cowards cannot be at this point,” he stressed.
The P546-billion flood control disgrace is merely the tip of the iceberg, as the extent of the rot of corruption afflicts the most basic unit of government, spurred by the thought that since the top echelon is doing it, graft is tolerated and nobody gets caught.
Filipinos went through several episodes of government abuses in the past, with the situation worsening rather than improving. Thus, a strong leader with integrity is yearned for.
“The country is evil. The people are angry. They want to clean the government,” was Laurel’s take on the country then, which rings true up to this time.
“You have to assume full responsibility for the eradication of graft and corruption,” the true Filipino statesman said, as if sending a message to the current leader.
In the final analysis, President Bongbong Marcos must bear the responsibility for what happens under his administration and suffer its consequences.
