Contrition first

People are now very angry about corruption, beyond the flood control scam.

- BOO CHANCO

Complaints are now being posted on social media about city engineers withholding permits unless they are bribed.

A former cabinet member told our Viber group that the collusion in government corruption is so deep it seems the devious political strategy is to disperse guilt and render the outraged public confused. Outrage, he said, needs focus.

While corruption has been around for decades, let us focus on the scandal we have right now.

Data indicates that the flood control scam started getting big during the Duterte administration. The ICI should accept evidence to cover that period but must zero in on what happened since BBM took office because that is something we can still do something about.

No, I am not in favor of toppling BBM because the alternative promises to be a lot more horrible. We must pinch our noses and presume we now have a contrite BBM.

A tearful BBM asking “paano ba tayo nagkaganito” is not proof of contrition. The first order of business if BBM wants to be credible is to confess his sin of colluding with his political allies in Congress.

BBM must own up to this failure. Then he must show repentance by making the 2026 budget clean of dubious insertions and go after the crooks with hammer and tongs.

An obviously false and incredible declaration of innocence like what Speaker Martin Romualdez and Congressman Zaldy Co did will create a more volatile political situation for BBM.

It is undeniably clear that officials, from BBM to members of Congress, betrayed us in the enactment of the 2025 national budget.

The House and the Senate inserted P450 billion in the DPWH budget but BBM only vetoed P26.065 billion. To make the veto seem bigger, BBM also vetoed P168.240 billion allocated under “Unprogrammed Appropriations.”