Have some shame!

THE CORNER ORACLE

- ANDREW J. MASIGAN

"Hiya naman kayo!" (Have some shame!). This was President Marcos' admonition to elected officials who have taken billions in kickbacks in flood control and other government projects. Bar none, this was the most significant part of the President's SONA. Why? Because it serves as a precedent to name and shame corrupt politicians.

The proclivity of Filipinos to stay silent even in the face of brazen corruption has normalized the crime and reduced it to a mere "standard operating procedure." No one speaks out—no one cries foul—partly out of fear of retaliation and partly because our legal institutions have failed to hold high-level offenders accountable, except when politically motivated.

We have come to expect nothing from the Sandiganbayan, the Office of the Ombudsman, the Civil Service Commission and the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission when it comes to investigating high-profile politicians. While the ombudsman and Sandiganbayan reported 1,692 and 263 cases filed, respectively, in 2023, not one conviction involved the big plunderers in Congress, the Senate or the Executive branch.

With anti-corruption institutions that are seemingly unwilling or incapable of persecuting the most powerful plunderers, one must ask—to whom can civil society turn? Who will investigate the corrupt if our own watchdogs do not?

Civilians who dare to call out corruption receive little to no institutional support or protection. Naturally, many choose silence. And that silence has further emboldened corrupt officials.

It has come to a point where senators and congressmen shamelessly tucked in some P879 billion in unprogrammed appropriations and budget insertions in the 2025 budget. For context, P879 billion is 10 times the budget of the Department of Transportation. The audacity and shamelessness is appalling! And the greed is worsening every year.