The ground is shifting

In the coming weeks or a couple of months, expect cases to be filed and arrest warrants to be issued against contractors and politicians tied to the trillion-peso flood control projects scandal.

- Atty. Ian Vincent Manticajon [e-mail]

Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla told The Philippine STAR's Amy Pamintuan that they are eyeing the issuance of arrest warrants against those involved in the anomalous flood control projects this November. Detention centers and jail facilities are also being inspected and spruced up in preparation for the expected batch of accused.

But this is not the main reason for my optimism about what's coming. The main reason is this: the people's anger at systemic corruption in our governance has not dissipated. The ground is shifting, and I must say that civil society and the movements for good governance, in general, must prepare and be mature enough to seize the moment.

This is not a time for ideological purity or intellectual snootiness; it is a time for unity and common ground in the pursuit of good governance. Too often, reform movements end up exhausting themselves in factional one-upmanship or purity policing. There is no need for those on the Left to quarrel among themselves over doctrine or strategy, nor for those on the Right to dismiss them with red tags. The so-called Center, meanwhile, retreats into tepid moderation, hesitant to be associated with either pole.