A point of view on the President’s fight against corruption

CORRUPTION is a bigger menace than the drug problem. Corrupt officials and employees, unlike drug lords and drug addicts, are in government offices, they are much larger in number and are entrusted with public trust. While President Duterte is making headway in his ‘War Against Drugs,’ he is losing the Fight Against Corruption.

One reason that probably contributed to this failure is the fact that President Duterte maintained the men and women of the bureaucracy of the immediate past administration.

To this date, past the halfway mark of his presidency, this men and women are still at the helm of their offices. And, more than a thousand offices still needed to be filled.

Another reason why corruption remains unabated is the fact that the penalty for bribery (whether direct or indirect) range from prision mayor in its minimum period up to prision correccional in its maximum period. In layman’s term that means six months to six years only. Is that too much to take when one steals millions below P50,000,000.00?

President Duterte signed a new law that adjusts the basis of prison terms for those who commit malversation of public funds. The lightest jail terms would be imposed on those who misappropriated an amount not exceeding P40,000. while the harshest terms would be meted out on those who misappropriated more than P8.8 million.1

Obviously, the increased penalty did not serve to deter these government officials and employees from their nefarious activities because corruption in government remains unstoppable.

A head of a government agency conducted life style check on its officials when the President was visibly upset about the performance of his agency during the recent State of the Nation Address but this is only, in reality, merely a prophylactic solution to appease the President. To this date, no one from this notorious agency was dismissed or sued in court. There is modus Vivendi between him and his officials.

The most feared government agency is the Commission on Audit. In most, if not all, corrupt practices in government, the COA is always involved because the money will not be released without its nod. The law should be amended such that unless the assigned COA is able to show that they have not participated in the anomaly, they should be presumed to have conspired in the commission of the crime. Have we conducted lifestyle check on its officials lately? You will be surprised to find out where they reside. How many cars they have.

We should amend the law and make corruption (bribery, malversation, etc) a heinous crime, and whether the amount involved is big or small, the penalty should be reclusion perpetua (life sentence). The amount stolen or received should be immaterial. The concerned COA should always be considered a co-defendant. When the person involved is entrusted with the enforcement of the law (like the PNP, the Prosecution Service or the Judiciary) or the guardian of government coffers (like the COA, BIR and BOC), this should be considered as Qualifying Circumstance and the penalty should be DEATH.

(The author is a graduate of Ateneo de Manila University School of Law. He holds the rank of Brigadier General and an active member of the Reserve Force. A recipient of the Dean of Academics Award at the Command and General Staff College, and completed the Senior Executive Course on National Security at the National Defense College of the Philippines)