LET us give the President-elect a good, sturdy shovel -- he will need it.
PBBM said is aware that his incoming administration has to “dig deep” in order to solve the corruption problem in the Philippines.
If there is a government official today who has seen graft and corruption up close and for the longest time, he is no one else than PBBM.
So when he was asked by reporters about his plans on how to make his brand of governance free from official corruption, Marcos Jr. has some words of wisdom to dish out.
“There’s no place for, there should not be any place for corruption,” Marcos told select media Thursday, May 26 during a Facebook live interview. “Unfortunately, in some areas, naging endemic na talaga yung corruption (Unfortunately corruption has become endemic in some areas). You’ll have to really dig deep,” said PBBM."I hope we do not have to do what then-Prime Minister Mahathir did. ‘Sige mag 15-30 lang kayo.’ Kasi may tenure sila e. ‘Mag 15-30 na lang kayo wag kayong papasok, palitan ko kayong lahat (‘All of you will be under 15-30.’ This is because they have a tenure. ‘All of you are under 15-30, don’t report for work, I’ll replace all of you). I hope we don’t have to go that far,” he said. “But I’m willing to. This is too important, otherwise it just doesn’t work,” Marcos said.
The incoming President knows too well that when it comes to corruption, the two agencies of Bureau of Internal Revenue and the Bureau of Customs are always mentioned. In fact, all the presidential candidates we asked during the last campaign which agency of government do they think has the biggest problem in graft and corruption, all of them replied the "Bureau of Customs" except Manny Pacquiao who thought it was the Department of Health.
Marcos was particularly keen on cleaning up the BOC and the BIR.
“Habulin talaga namin kayo at hindi pupwede yan (We will really go after you, we cannot allow that) because we will not succeed. The economy of the Philippines will simply not succeed if we cannot collect duties, tariffs. It’s through the Bureau of Customs (BOCs) and [if] we do not have good collection on taxes both of the national and the local level, hindi talaga uubra (it won’t work). We cannot, the numbers don’t match,” Marcos said. “That’s why it’s very important and we will, we have at the very least reduce the corrosive influence of corruption in government,” PBBM stressed.
I hope that with the huge mandate the voters gave Marcos, he can make a dent in the fight against official corruption, with the help of his well-picked and efficient professional economic team.