Fountainhead

Those are brave individuals who accepted the challenge to constitute what is now being called the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI).

- ALEX MAGNO

Perhaps it has yet to dawn on them that their real assignment is to rescue a political order in danger of collapsing under the weight of unbridled greed.

The ICI is very likely a misnomer - reflecting the wishful thinking of the power holders to limit the focus of the outrage to the looting of infrastructure funds. While it is true that the flood control scandal brought to light the immensity of our country’s problem with corruption, the source of the problem is ultimately the political order itself.

Our political system is organized to loot. Whoever controls the purse, controls the kickbacks. This is why we have no real political parties and why our elections are so prohibitively expensive. This is why we have cultivated an electorate shaped by political patronage. Our electoral democracy is really about who will collect the spoils of power.

Whoever it was who described our Congress as “the biggest criminal syndicate in the country” was not too far off the mark.

After we have feasted in the social media feeds of the so-called “nepo babies,” we will have to prepare to feast at the sight of the super mansions built by those who pretend to govern us. These mansions will be the final measure of the scale of the looting that has happened.

By the official definition of its work, the ICI will probably be busy unearthing ghost projects, identifying the networks of collusion between politicians, bureaucrats and contractors. They will look at audit trails and hit hard at district engineers who certified ghost projects as completed.