By Reni M. Valenzuela
From whoever came the suggestion to restore Rogelio Singson to his old post must be an avid fan of ex-President Noynoy Aquino, under whose administration the former served as secretary of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) -- as if there were no anomalies or fewer anomalies in that agency during his watch?
But the man was good enough to laugh off the idea. He said in an interview by ABS-CBN, “No. I think that’s far-fetched because my wife will leave me already if I go back to the government.” Fine.
The extent and enormity of corruption in DPWH is so great that it requires massive, extensive purging, a total overhaul and a fresh start, no less -- with new but upright, wise, incorruptible, brave and God-fearing officials (nationwide) to administer and manage it.
The debacle that is unfolding in the government’s flood control projects with multi-billion peso budget shows the gravity and hideousness of the poor/horrible performance of the DPWH under its present head, Secretary Manuel Bonoan.
Corruption is the alpha and omega of all our problems as a people and country -- be it flooding, smuggling, inflation, insurrection, hunger, joblessness, criminality, poverty, illiteracy, “healthcare,” bankrupt economy, inequality, endless “importations,” agricultural desertion, human rights transgressions, national in-security, pork barrel, political dynasty, police/military brutality, official inanity, injustice, etc. You name it.
Corruption is the root of all the roots of evils that beset all of us. I have said this countless times in an equally countless number of articles I have written and published since 1990.
But you apparently don’t care, dear leaders of the land.
So here we all are (as always and as usual) -- going round and round in circles like the stubborn, stupid Israelites who wandered in the wilderness needlessly and foolishly for 40 long years in order for them to reach the promised land, which land was actually just a short distance, a 240-mile journey from where they were (Egypt) to the promised land (Canaan). They turned their blessing into a curse.
Had the Israelites obeyed the Lord and done the right things, they could have reached the promised land in 11 days. Instead, they wasted 14,589 wasted days.
Solve corruption in DPWH and you will likely be able to solve the same in the rest of the corrupt agencies of the government. But what agency is it where corruption does not exist?
If the President will not act soonest to replace the man behind the steering wheel, then the eerie “probabilities” that define a bad leader would logically reflect on him (more than on Bonoan) -- his character, leadership and his “Bagong Pilipinas.”
Let there be a credible, separate, independent, impartial, uncompromising, bold body to probe the blatant irregularities in the ongoing flood control fiasco/ignonominy.
No government official who gains from anomalies in his own backyard will be angry at the people (inside and outside) who are involved in stealing from the nation’s coffers. That is true anywhere in the government and in private sector.
But you were angry, sir, as you have shown during your recent Sona address. So why not replace the officials of the DPWH from the secretary down to the district engineers and all other officials -- Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao?
Sen. Bam Aquino is correct when he said, “Keep DPWH out of building classrooms.” Alas, he is only partly correct. If I may propose instead: Keep DPWH out of everything that has to do with building and constructing anything in and outside the country, beneath and above the seas, on land and in the air -- to avoid pillage and plunder. Except, of course, for projects that have zero budgets.
That is how corrupt DPWH is.