Where there‘s smoke...

Where there‘s smoke... | Daily Tribune

Early into the flood control projects mess, former Commission on Audit commissioner Heidi Mendoza was all over social media expressing concern over the “conflict of interest” involving a current CoA commissioner whose contractor-wife had bagged a huge Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) project.

This was followed by her recommendation to newly installed DPWH chief Vince Dizon to secure the paper trail and the hard drives and laptops of officials of the beleaguered department before these could be destroyed.

Then on Wednesday, a fire hit a DPWH building in Quezon City. Newscasters could not hide their sarcasm, and who could blame them? Most people thought the same thing — suspicion and distrust now seemingly a part of the Filipino mindset.

All this came to the fore following the series of unfortunate events that bared just how asinine the greedy pork-fed officials had become. Their carelessness alone and blatant disregard of public opinion goes to show how little they regard the Filipino people.

Of course, we cannot heap all the blame on them. Their giant sense of entitlement grew to such a scale because we simply gave it to them. We may have railed and growled and complained to the high heavens, but we never saw any issue or controversy through to its satisfying end.

No one minded when the corrupt got away with murder. We can count on one hand those who went to jail for robbing and raping the country.

And how do we treat those who come forward with facts and good sense? We throw them out and stomp on their reputations.

Now the DPWH, currently under the perceived able hands of young turk Vince Dizon, has plenty of cleansing to undergo, and it may perhaps take more than the usual new issue to make people forget what has not yet been addressed.

Reports say the fire in the DPWH’s Bureau of Research Standards building did not touch anything relevant to the investigation. Dizon said all the documents were secure in the Central Office. What a relief, sure, but maybe this was a reminder to never take our eyes off the case.

The fight against corruption is not for the faint of heart, and few bother to keep updated when they would rather not think about it.

For sure, those who prefer it that way will use the holiday season to keep us in a stupor. This time of year, we should be forgetting about the depressing issues and preparing to wallow in temporary thrills. ‘Tis the season to be jolly, the season to uphold peace!

Then again, September has come and gone, and October is about to end. Less than two months is left to get our heads into the holiday mode. It’s a sure sign that things have changed because no one is yet feeling the cheer.