Duterte gov't should not have given up on the effort vs corruption –think tank

In the last five years, the Duterte administration should have attempted to end corruption within the government and not given up by declaring there was no solution, a Stratbase research group political analyst said on Tuesday.

Professor Dindo Manhit said this over GTV's Balitanghali as he disagreed with President Rodrigo Duterte's sixth and final State of the Nation Address in which the Chief Executive said: "You cannot stop corruption unless you overthrow the government completely."

"We cannot say na walang solution doon, dapat may attempt... Hindi mo pwedeng sabihin na walang nangyari, na hindi mo kaya. Ang gusto natin magkaroon ng greater transparency, accountability o pananagutan ang mga tao sa gobyerno tungkol sa isyu ng corruption kapag may pagkukulang o pagnanakaw," said Manhit.

(We cannot say that there is no solution, there should be an attempt. You cannot say that nothing happened or that you can't solve it. What we want to hear is that the government implemented greater transparency and accountability with regards to the corruption issue.)

On Monday, Duterte admitted that during his administration, corruption remained. He also claimed that martial law should be declared to change the system of the government.

However, experts have already pointed out that foreign debt ballooned, there was underemployment, and the inflation rate accelerated even as the Marcos regime placed the country under martial law.

Manhit, nevertheless, praised the Duterte administration's passage of the free Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act as well as the Universal Healthcare Law.

But Manhit said Duterte should also focus on how to solve economic challenges in the country that is still suffering from the impact of the pandemic.

"Paano sasagutin ang kahirapan, gutom, kawalan ng trabaho? Kulang ang sona sa pagbibigay importansya ng Pangulo dito," he pointed out.

(How can we solve poverty, hunger, and unemployment? The President's SONA failed to give importance to this.)

Proactive measures vs corruption

For Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles, the Duterte administration put in place some measures to address corruption within its government.

He cited the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission and Anti-Red Tape Authority as some of the agencies that act on irregularities among government officials.

Nograles also pointed out that Duterte dismissed government officials facing graft complaints.

"May proactive na ginagawa ang pamahalaan at pagfifire out ng Presidente sa corrupt at may mga reklamo," said Nograles in another interview over Balitanghali.

(Government is taking proactive measures and the President is firing corrupt officials and those facing complaints.)

For instance, Duterte fired Customs deputy commissioners over the billions of pesos worth of crystal meth that slipped past Customs officials in August.

But he transferred Isidro Lapeña, then Customs chief, to the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA).

Some senators said this move showed a lack of accountability in the campaign against illegal drugs.  — DVM, GMA News