METRO MANILA, METRO CEBU, ARE NOT THE PHILIPPINES
Two years ago, I thought it was timely to post on the
the subject. Now, I have yet to feel any difference, so I am reissuing the same
post with sigh, fatigue, and hope as well.
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Four months into the Pnoy presidency, it’s not
surprising that Pulse Asia’s poll on trust rating for the president yielded a
high 80%. That, despite the controversies that hounded the fledgling
administration. No doubt the president enjoys the trust of the people. In fact,
it is that trust argument that catapulted him to the presidency.
The president, on several occasions, has been
trumpeting the inroads and headways on reforms that his administration has
made. That’s welcome news, but I’m afraid that’s only true in Metro Manila, and
so in behalf of the people in the provinces, I would like to remind the
president that Metro Manila and Metro Cebu are not all of the Philippines.
Whatever reforms his administration intends to implement must be implemented,
save for any legal or other reasonable limitations, across the entire
Philippine archipelago.
Take for instance his Daan na Matuwid, Pag Walang
Kurap, Walang Mahirap challenge. That does not even reverberate in the
provinces. The provinces are completely out the national government’s radar,
I’d suspect and like to believe, judging by how “business as usual” it is out
there.
Pnoy’s administration must implement a sweeping
investigation on all aspects of local government in the provinces: branches and
agencies of government, particularly agencies that rank high in the corruption
scale, including Government Owned and Controlled Corporations (GOCCs). Start
with lifestyle checks, and proceed with thorough investigation: assets
vis-à-vis capacity to acquire.
The agencies tasked to watch and check for, or
prosecute public officers for offenses and abuses, are mum for reasons known
only to them. They, too, must be checked on and prosecuted for conspiracy,
complicity, nonfeasance, malfeasance, misfeasance or whatever legal
justification the administration's legal bright boys and girls can find to make
sure that their acts or omissions do not go unpunished. If a true prosecutorial
investigation is conducted by operatives that have the required integrity and
grit, they’ll find that laws have different standard of enforcement in the
provinces.
People in the provinces are sick and tired of being
excluded in the government’s real reform agenda. Before they become completely
dismissive of the administration's so-called programs for reform, the president
had better include them in his Philippines. It’s not enough to say that he
does, it is more important he get people on the ground that will make his
reforms felt.
