Rotten Eggs

Official corruption

May 15, 2021 People's Tonight 815 views

RIGHT after assuming the top political post of the land at 12 noon on June 30, 2016, President Rodrigo Duterte declared war against corruption in the government as among his priorities.

Today, which is just a year before his six-year presidency ends, the tough-talking Duterte from impoverished Mindanao acknowledged that there is still corruption in this government.

He said “there will always be corruption as long as there is a running bureaucracy and there is money involved and there are a lot of tables, where the papers will go through.” Duterte, a lawyer and a former state prosecutor, said the only way for corruption to be eliminated is to close down the government, adding “the most we can do is to fight it.”

But in his pre-recorded public address last Thursday, he assured the Filipino people that he would continue fighting official corruption until the end of his six-year term next year.

In October 2020, Mr. Duterte ordered the Department of Justice (DOJ) under Secretary Menardo Guevarra to investigate allegations of corruption in the entire government.

Last month, the Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA) and the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) signed a memorandum of agreement to strengthen the fight against corruption.

The MOA, signed by ARTA Director-General Jeremiah Belgica and PACC Chair Greco Belgica, aims to align and integrate their functions in handling complaints and reports of violations.

In the view of many, the signing of the MOA and DU30’s order to DOJ “demonstrate” the national government determination to stamp out wrongdoings in the bureaucracy.

Let’s restore the people’s trust and confidence in the government by going after the “rotten eggs” in state uniform.

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