After P1 trillion in flood control funds were plundered and a carefully orchestrated uproar was manufactured to cast the administration as crusaders against corruption, where do things actually stand?
The Big Fish, dangled before the public since the Floodgate scandal broke, remains a myth. Elusive then, elusive now.
Investigations yielded precious little — one former senator and a smattering of contractors prosecuted — before the political machinery pivoted entirely to impeaching Vice President Sara Duterte (twice) and hauling Senator Bato dela Rosa off to The Hague.
Essentially, the perpetrators of the wave of corruption in government remain protected by the administration’s maneuvers, which Akbayan Representative Chel Diokno said mirrors the failure to undertake the most basic actions to demand accountability.
Aside from the temporary freezing of accounts, Diokno said what has been missing is the filing of civil forfeiture cases against those involved, especially those named by witnesses or identified through evidence.
A civil forfeiture case does not require a criminal prosecution. It doesn’t require proof beyond a reasonable doubt.
“It’s a separate civil action that will ensure that any ill-gotten wealth is preserved and returned to the government,” Diokno explained.
“That has to happen. And it should have happened last year. And I feel really incensed that it hasn’t happened up to now,” he said.
The circumstances proving a moro-moro are so overwhelming based on Diokno’s rundown.
He said Filipinos remain in the dark about the outcome of the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) probe, which was conducted amid much spectacle.
“We don’t know what they recommended. And that’s why we’re still in a quandary as to who will be charged and how the cases will turn out,” the House member who is a lawyer stated.
Regarding the slippery big fish, a bill was filed calling for the creation of an independent legislative commission to combat infrastructure corruption which, Diokno lamented, was never approved despite being prioritized by the President.
“We worked on that and spent a lot of hours, especially in the technical working group, finishing the committee report to make sure it would reach the plenary,” he said.
Had the commission been created, Filipinos would have known by now how the irregularities happened and who should be prosecuted.
Everyone wanted the investigation to happen, and especially the prosecution to be swift.
“But what we’ve seen, time and again, is that exposés come out but what happens after that? The cases take forever,” Diokno said.
“By the time decisions are issued, a whole decade can pass. That is, for me, unacceptable,” he stressed.
A genuine commitment to fighting corruption should have prompted the leadership to make cases related to Floodgate a priority of the judiciary.
“The trial of a corruption case should not exceed three years. An appeal of a corruption case should not take two years, especially when you’re talking about billions in taxpayer money. I cannot accept that,” Diokno said.
“Cases involving corruption and ill-gotten wealth are pending in the Sandiganbayan for 20 to 30 years. We should not accept that. And I’ve made this call to the Supreme Court before, that they impose very strict requirements for corruption and ill-gotten wealth cases,” the legislator indicated.
The glacial pace of corruption cases, some of which drag on for decades, is not merely deplorable. It is by design.
Government sleaze is a permanent fixture, not a passing scandal, so long as the syndicate occupying the Palace continues to wield power as a private profit machine.
