From the seventies to mid-eighties, dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos plundered the country’s economy, estimated from various sources, at $10 billion, as per record. This set the tone for politicians to use their government official positions to plunder the country’s economy for their own selfish interests – particularly to perpetuate themselves and their families to hold political and economic powers in their own jurisdictional territories, or government institutions under their control.
This fact has been highlighted lately, with the filing of a second plunder case by former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV against former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte for “allegedly using his position as mayor and later as president to award contracts worth P6.6 billion to ‘unqualified’ companies owned by Senator Christopher ‘Bong’ Go’s father and half-brother.”
Trillanes claims that they in effect were liable for violating the Constitutional provision prohibiting government officials and their relatives from benefitting financially in any government-owned or sponsored contracts.
Pork Barrel Scam
This latest Trillanes complaint on plunder by the former president reminds the Filipino people of the Napoles’ “pork barrel scam” involving such prominent names as Juan Ponce Enrile, Joseph Estrada, Jinggoy Estrada, Ramon Revilla, Jr and others.
More to the point – “What is President Bongbong Marcos and VP Sara Duterte doing about these cases?” These are clearly corruption cases, and if resolved, can be THE solution to our main problem of massive poverty of millions of our countrymen. This will provide them with opportunities to attain and enjoy decent lives, thereby, fulfilling the job of government officials “to build a just and humane society.”
What is the Truth?
So, the lingering question in the minds of keen observers of national political, economic and social issues, or the people in general, is: “What is the Truth, and what has the law enforcement agencies done about these possible violations of the rule of law? Have those in the judicial branch of government, or for that matter, those in Congress, made concrete steps to stop plunder being committed by those in government?
This is a good chance to prove their honesty in faithfully carrying out their public mandate of giving justice to everyone, particularly the Filipino tax-payers who provide the billions of pesos for the salaries and allowances of all government officials.
Will Trillanes’ plunder case against the former president and his co-respondents result favorably on the side of the people’s cry for justice?
And will this favorable outcome, if achieved, awaken our government officials sworn to promote the Constitution and the Rule of Law to seriously and finally stamp out corruption in every nook and corner of the government bureaucracy?
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