Ghost employees, phantom penalties

It was around this time last year when Malacañang accepted the resignation of two Monetary Board (MB) members who got embroiled in an unprecedented ghost employee scandal at the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

- IRIS GONZALES

A year later, here we are still waiting to hear from Malacañang what actions have been taken against the two ex-MB members.

It's ironic considering that the Marcos administration has been going full throttle on accountability. Didn't we just witness a Cabinet shake-up supposedly to weed out those who weren't performing well enough? Some remaining Duterte appointees in government have also been shown the exit door because of questionable deals. There's a former Overseas Workers Welfare Administration administrator, for instance, who is now in hot water over an unauthorized P1.4-billion land deal.

And then there's the House of Representatives' impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte supposedly for a long list of wrongdoings.

But the Office of the President has been quiet regarding the two ex-MB members.

This is not something the Marcos administration or any administration should take lightly.

Unfortunately, the last we heard, there has been no legal action taken yet against the two ex-MB members.

By keeping it this way, the Marcos administration is sending the wrong signal to government employees. If it is serious about corruption and wrongdoing, there must be legal action against the two ex-MB officials.

It's also a chance for both of them to explain their side once and for all and for it to be put on record. More importantly, it would send a signal to the bureaucracy that there is no place for corruption in the Marcos government.