Fight Against Graft and Corruption Miserably Lost to the President of the Republic

President Gloria Macapapagal Arroyo appears to be oblivious of the problem that is graft and corruption. It is for this reason perhaps that all big fishes who have been accused of committing graft and corruption in her government especially those who appear to be close to her, almost always go scot free.

In her speech today during the 28th General Assembly and Annual Meeting of the Bishops-Businessmen's Conference, she highlighted it with a concrete example on how the bishops and businessmen would be able to help the government in its fight against graft and corruption. She narrated a situation that in a small island barangay where there is no effective pressence of the church such as a regular catechesis class for youngsters, people would eventually grow to become "ammoral" as she termed it; and stealing becomes a way of life. According to her, these people from the barrios who would eventually migrate to the urban areas to work as househelp, employees in private corporations and in the government becomes the "usual suspect" in graft and corruption. She then hurled a challenge that in order to prevent a systemic culture of graft and corruption in the government, the Bishops and businessmen should pitch-in by providing programs of Values Formation to all barangays in the country.

Nothing in her speech did she says that she was committed to fight graft and corruption in the government by starting on the big fishes especially those who were, in one way or another have connections in her Administration.

How ironic that while the Bishops and businessmen who were present in the meeting were very much serious about the problem of graft and corruption in government that were committed in mass scale by big self-serving interest groups in almost every Administration of our blighted Republic, here comes the newly elected President of the Republic, declares that the cause of it all were the small, less educated people from the barrios.

No wonder that this President has declared before that one of the terrorists in our midst are the union leaders and their followers - almost all ordinary people from the barrios.