THE investigative report on the wealth of President Rodrigo Duterte and his family brought to mind another exposé years ago that resulted in the ouster of the country’s top official.
Will the recent Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) reports on the Duterte family wealth lead to the President’s removal from Malacañang? It seems unlikely there will be the same ending.
Not because the journalistic work was faulty, although Duterte’s camp thinks it is, as months of digging for information was done before the actual writing. This exposé might not result in Duterte’s ouster for several reasons-–outrage is limited to a few senators seeking an investigation, the public probably has become unaffected because graft in high offices is no longer surprising, and Duterte continues to enjoy support.
The PCIJ in 2001 wrote an investigative report that showed how then President Joseph Estrada, his family, and firms associated with him acquired 16 pieces of property, including mansions, in Metro Manila, and Tagaytay and Baguio cities. We know how it ended – with Estrada arrested, jailed, and convicted for plunder. Estrada was pardoned in 2007 by then President Gloria Arroyo.
Fast forward to this year, the PCIJ released last week a three-part series that showed how the Duterte family members allegedly have undisclosed business interests, and that the law firm, Carpio & Duterte Lawyers, was not registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Presidential daughter Sara and her husband Manases Carpio are the law firm’s partners. The report said the Supreme Court and the Local Government Code prohibit mayors and governors from practicing their professions, but Sara has not formally, publicly declared her leave of absence from the firm. Since 2016, however, Carpio has appeared as legal counsel to big companies with cases before government regulatory agencies, the report said.
Duterte, Sara and the President’s son Paolo “have either belatedly disclosed their interests in certain companies, remain listed in some other as shareholders but did not disclose these in their SALNs (statement of assets, liabilities and net worth), or are part of certain companies that are not at all registered with the SEC or the Department of Trade and Industry,” the report claimed.
The PCIJ said it tried to contact Duterte, Sara, and Paolo for interviews but such requests were not granted.
President Duterte said Monday that other people have no business looking into his family’s personal interests that did not involve public funds. He reportedly said, “My children and I are being criticized, all about lawyering. What do they care about what happened to my law office?”
The PCIJ report could end there unless someone picks it up. Who is supposed to follow up on this? An allegation of even a single case of corruption should not be easily brushed aside as political, timed for next month’s election.