Stages of corruption

SKETCHES

- ANA MARIE PAMINTUAN

Hearing public officials detailing how corruption happens in flood control and other infrastructure projects, you wonder why the problem has persisted for so long. The problem has long been identified, with its vile consequences known. The MO, with the numerous permutations, are also known.

So why have the perpetrators not been identified and prosecuted? The only plausible reason is because they are VIP crooks — rendered untouchable either by the right connections, or because of their perceived clout in elections.

Even if they are behind roads that melt in the rain, bridges that collapse and ghost or guni-guni flood control projects, they can do no wrong. They can get away with anything, including murder.

An example is the Ampatuan clan, whose notoriety for violence, murder and corruption was ignored by several administrations. Why? Because the clan could deliver any number of votes needed by whoever was in power.

Even the notoriety for brutality of Andal Ampatuan Jr. was seen as an asset, to rein in violent troublemakers at the time led by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. So what if he reportedly had a penchant for decapitating enemies?

Gloria Macapagal Arroyo held back for a few days in condemning the Ampatuans following the Maguindanao massacre in 2009, until searchers started pulling out the victims' bodies one by one, like a danse macabre scene, with many squished together inside vehicles crushed by a backhoe belonging to the provincial government.

The Ampatuans left behind several mansions amid the abject poverty in their province, fleets of luxury bulletproof vehicles, and arsenals packed with high-powered guns sourced (according to their packing crates) from the Department of National Defense itself.