Ignore message at your own peril
The Senate hearing on substandard and ghost flood control projects on Monday showed a more determined stance to identify the culpable parties, with at least three senators and one lawmaker implicated by former Bulacan district engineer Henry Alcantara. His sworn affidavit, as confirmed by Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) engineer Bryce Hernandez, marked a turning point in the hearing previously stalled by prevarications from DPWH officials and contractor-witnesses, who had insisted on their right against self-incrimination.
This time around, the testimonies were more forthright, detailing dates, names, amounts, and the bidding and awards process that exposed the systemic rot in the agency entrusted with the country’s infrastructure projects.
So what changed? What key opened the floodgates to revelations that could comprise substantial evidence to prosecute the guilty?
While there’s no discounting backroom deals aimed at securing state witness status for some parties that might yet play out in succeeding hearings, a decisive factor for the sudden turnaround and newfound clarity of purpose among those involved could be last Sunday’s massive protest rallies against the brazen corruption in government projects.
The mass demonstrations all over the country on Sept. 21 highlighted people’s outrage at the anomalous flood control projects that saw provinces submerged in deep waters amid recent typhoons.
Unscrupulous parties
Organized by church groups, civil society organizations, students, labor unions, and political coalitions, the protests attracted an estimated 80,000 protesters at the “Baha sa Luneta” rally alone, with as large a crowd at the “Trillion Peso March” at the Edsa Shrine, the theme a reference to the public funds lost to the massive irregularities.
With parallel protest rallies in several provinces, last Sunday’s mobilization may yet be the biggest demonstration of the people’s disgust over corruption, and their firm resolve to put an end to it.
The message was loud and clear: prosecute the big fish, recover the loot, reform the system. Jail the guilty, the crowd had chanted, a call for accountability and transparency that can no longer be ignored.
For sure, an open call for public participation made the rallies vulnerable to unscrupulous parties that would hijack such mobilization to push their dubious agenda. This was exactly how masked men in black started what turned out to be a chaotic situation, with them burning a trailer truck on Ayala Bridge and provoking a running battle with police.
Police brutality
In nearby Mendiola and later, in Recto Avenue, similarly-clad men threw rocks, and molotov cocktails, destroyed traffic lights and street islands, and even looted a motel, making off with its vault. Both sides suffered casualties, with the police arresting more than 100, some of them minors.
While the Commission on Human Rights has rightfully called for a probe on possible police brutality, netizens and journalists who covered the street battle posted videos showing the possible payoff behind the clash, the call to a Mendiola march by a speaker at the pro-Duterte rally in Liwasang Bonifacio, incriminating videos of money being handed to the masked men after the riot, and of police cowering behind their shield as youthful rioters advanced menacingly.
Malacañang has strongly condemned the riots that marred the otherwise peaceful mass protests, that resulted in 129 police and 76 civilians injured in the violence, and a still unidentified man stabbed dead.
Dark forces
For sure, the rioters are entitled to the same rage at the plunder of resources though they could only vent their fury with violent action. Their grievances are as valid and must be heard as well, other protesters have noted. Still, absent even a nominal call against government rot and with their flagrant provocation to anarchy, could they be merely hooligans paid to take advantage of a fragile situation?
With hostile political forces waiting on the side, the government would do well to investigate claims that dark forces had instigated the violence. But while making responsible parties fully accountable, caution should be exercised in dealing with the mostly minor rioters whose expression of dissent against the system can better be directed rather than suppressed.
Lawmakers must meanwhile heed the people’s call, and know that nothing less than prosecution of the guilty and the return of taxpayer money can appease this simmering social volcano. The crisis that unfolded in Nepal and Indonesia as a result of similar protests is instructive, and a combustible situation we cannot afford.
The government must be reminded that this public show of defiance and disgust is just the beginning and is bound to continue and intensify unless palpable changes are felt. People must meanwhile remain vigilant, lest the greed behind the flood control scandal resurrects in other forms.
