Biz, labor groups unite in call vs corruption
The country’s leading business and labor groups on Sunday issued a candid “open letter” to President Marcos, which recommended substantial reforms to show his administration’s determination in stamping out corruption in government.
Calling themselves “Business and Labor Leaders United Against Corruption,” the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Employers Confederation of the Philippines and Philippine Exporters Confederation, together with the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines, Federation of Free Workers and Sentro ng mga Nagkakaisa at Progresibong Manggagawa, urged Mr. Marcos to “firmly and fearlessly lead from the front in confronting the largest and most brazen corruption scandal in our nation’s history.”
They appealed to the President to take five “bold concrete actions now to restore faith in government before the people’s patience finally runs out.”
Foremost of these recommendations is convening a regular sectoral dialogue with both workers and employers, who know firsthand the cost of corruption on jobs, investments, and everyday Filipinos.
This is to rebuild confidence by discussing the road map of the anticorruption drive, including the challenges in prosecution and recovery are reported, they said.
Mr. Marcos should also certify as urgent the proposed legislation granting the Independent Commission for Infrastructure full subpoena and contempt powers and direct it to conduct public hearings and publicly disclose all submissions, position papers, and supporting documents presented to the probe body to uncover the truth in full view of the people.
The groups recommended the creation of a special division in the Sandiganbayan dedicated exclusively to infrastructure corruption cases to ensure that investigations swiftly and surely lead to prosecution and convictions, “regardless if the guilty is foe, friend, or family, no matter how high in power.”
Stolen wealth
The President, they added, must ensure the recovery of the stolen wealth through immediate asset freezing, insurance recovery, and restitution of misused public funds and reallocating a good portion to genuine social reform that supports the Filipino people, especially workers.
Finally, they called for reforming the entire national budget process not only by opening the congressional hearings and bicameral conference committee to the public but by institutionalizing meaningful multisectoral participation from the very start of the preparation of the National Expenditure Program.
They lamented that nothing much has happened since Mr. Marcos’ State of the Nation Address last July when he first raised the issue of corruption in flood control projects.
“Instead of hold departure orders, we are told to be content with immigration lookout bulletins for now. Instead of criminal charges, we are fed daily promises of cases ‘soon to be filed.’ Instead of open transparent hearings, we get closed-door investigations whose direction remains unknown. Instead of going after the most guilty, we are led on political detours, chasing the less guilty, depending on who sits where and who stands with whom,” the groups noted.
‘Political detours’
The groups dared the President to prove his anticorruption drive is the start of national renewal for true justice.
“For when justice is delayed and worst, denied, the reckless will tempt the restless to take dangerous extraconstitutional shortcuts,” they said.
“A credible and vigorous anticorruption campaign within the bounds of the rule of law and the Constitution will strengthen democratic institutions and safeguard our nation from further instability and disillusionment. The Filipino people are no longer just watching.”
