The President and his “Daang Matuwid” team must realize the legacy-defining and culture-changing opportunity that has landed on their laps as a result of the pork barrel scandal and the resulting public outrage. They must realize that if they follow through with arrests and prosecution --- imagine the glorious sight of hundreds of Congressmen and Senators being herded off en masse to the police station and Manila City Jail ( we are free to dream!) --- our country will have this epoch-defining opportunity to make our political culture leap-frog from the dungeons of the middle ages to the sun-lit halls of a first world country. The leap-frog can happen in one fell swoop, instead of the arduous 400 years of wandering in the wilderness our country faces in its efforts to change the well-entrenched culture of corruption in our political system. Even if the criminal cases will only have symbolic value eventually --- because they will certainly encounter roadblocks and setbacks along the way --- the mere filing of these cases and the iconic photos of politicians being arrested en masse will send shivers down the crocodile-spines of present and future generations of our politicians. The scandal has the potentials of a political culture-changing moment for the country. So far, all the efforts of the current administration in fighting corruption amount to guerilla-tactics that entirely depend on the whim and caprice of the administration in power. When the new Mandarins come to power in 2016, all the efforts of the present administration can be reversed by the new powers-that-be. If the present administration commences now the prosecution of all the politicians involved in the pork barrel scandal, the brave move will inescapably fix the course, dictate the tempo and impose the standards that the succeeding President must follow, unless he/she is willing to incur the wrath of an outraged citizenry. The present administration must pursue prosecution of all those involved in the pork barrel scandal, and must move heaven and earth to pass the Freedom of Information law, if it is really serious in its “Daang Matuwid” slogan and if it wants its efforts at fighting corruption to last beyond its term in office. If the current administration does not follow through with prosecution, any and all of its subsequent efforts to prosecute inferior and petty bureaucrats will taste stale. All such subsequent efforts will be viewed as merely cutting the tail instead of decapitating the hundreds of heads of the Dragon that resides in the dark dungeon that is Congress, when it had the chance. The country also runs the risk of massive disillusionment of the people. Why should people pay taxes if the government will be nothing but a collecting cabo of mafia syndicates in Congress? This is a once in a lifetime opportunity in the life of our country. The people must not let their guards down and must translate their outrage into mass actions, demonstrations, petitions, and support for any leader who will emerge willing to face the multi-headed Dragon that requires everyone to call his multiple heads “Honorable.” Anyone who does not lend his voice or add his warm body in this fight for the nation’s soul has no business complaining if the vultures and crocodiles come knocking at his office or house doorsteps demanding their 30 pieces of silver, demanding their pound of flesh.
Posted on: Sun, 18 Aug 2013 07:59:03 +0000
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