SAME BANANA

The Aquino administration is beginning to show signs that it could resort to the same kind of cover-up that its predecessor was notorious for...

Furthermore, there seems to be a double standard: one kind of due process for PNoy loyalists and another for others... PNoy is quick to publicly criticize what he sees as anomalies of the past administration, even without solid facts or full investigation, he has been just as swift in dismissing governance worries about his people.

... And without any investigation, he has denied Archbishop Cruz’s charges of jueteng links in his government, even though the opposition, including Aquino’s camp, once accepted Cruz’s word when the prelate was attacking the past administration...

By: Rick Saludo

Are we back to old-style patronage politics in the Aquino administration?

Asked whether he would accept the offer to resign made by his trusted friend and loyal supporter, Undersecretary Rico Puno of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), President Benigno Aquino 3rd told reporters covering his US visit: “There is a process. If I can give due process to our foes, our friends and allies are also entitled to that process.” “If I expect loyalty from them, I also have loyalty to them that I will give them due process, so that we will not be swayed by allegations and suspicions that are without basis,” the President added. Certainly, due process is not only the right of anyone accused. It is also a wise and just practice to ensure that any action taken and judgment made are based on facts, sound reasoning, the rule of law, and diligent, impartial study.

The problem is that there seems to be a double standard: one kind of due process for PNoy loyalists and another for others. To be sure, this “duo process” is no different from the ways of patronage politics practiced in the past and across the country, from Palace to pamayanan. But then, isn’t this administration supposed to turn away from old-style politics and follow the Tuwid na Daan? Yet when it comes to those outside his camp, the President is quick to judge, accuse or take adverse action with little, if any, effort to affirm the bases of what is said and done.

In his very first memorandum circular issued less than a day in office and revised soon after, President Benigno Aquino 3rd fired thousands of government officials and personnel holding non-career positions. No check on their qualifications, their years or decades of dedicated service, their work performance, or even the impact their sudden departure would have on the public.

Then came Executive Order No. 2 with pretty much the same exit orders for appointees of the previous president, on grounds that they were accepted after the March 10 deadline for appointments made by the outgoing chief executive. Again, whatever good work the fired bureaucrats might have done or however sterling their qualifications might have been, out they go.

Meantime, the Palace, in so many words, accused the Ombudsman of dereliction of duty for supposedly failing to take proper legal action on controversial anomalies in the past administration. Malacañang cited no specific errors in the rulings of Merceditas Gutierrez, who even excluded herself from cases involving the former First Couple. Nor was there any review of her anti-corruption initiatives, including those that helped get the Philippines the $434-million US aid package accepted by PNoy in Washington last week. Just the not-so-subtle threat: resign or be ousted.

It was not PNoy’s first challenge against a constitutionally independent official. Even before he took office, the president-elect made clear his disdain for the appointment of Chief Justice Renato Corona. No matter that the validity of his selection was affirmed by the Supreme Court with the full due process of en banc deliberation, oral and written arguments and two motions of reconsideration. Plus the top recommendation of Corona among nominees for the premier post submitted by the Judicial and Bar Council, which includes Aquino ally Sen. Chiz Escudero and the Integrated Bar of the Philippines representative.One more memorable episode: the removal of Prisco Nilo, longtime director of the weather bureau PAGASA. He was perhaps the first official publicly told off by PNoy. Two weeks into the new government, at a National Disaster Coordinating Council meeting chaired by the President, Nilo was criticized for failing to give more than an hour’s warning of Typhoon Basyang’s direct hit on Metro Manila.Weeks later Nilo was out of PAGASA and moved to a low-profile post in the Department of Science and Technology.

That prompted media to compare his quick transfer to the lack of any action so far on police and other officials involved in the Rizal Park hostage crisis, not even those like Usec. Puno who failed to ensure that the PNP Special Action Force was used in the bus assault, as the President himself had ordered.

This concern over duo process is not just about fair and equal treatment. More important is the effect that the apparent favoritism may have on how officials loyal to PNoy behave. Will they be deterred from corruption if they see the President showing “too much due process,” as jueteng payola accuser Archbishop Oscar Cruz put it?Indeed, while PNoy is quick to publicly criticize what he sees as anomalies of the past administration, even without solid facts or full investigation, he has been just as swift in dismissing governance worries about his people. He showed no great concern over conflict of interest issues involving Cabinet members. And without any investigation, he has denied Archbishop Cruz’s charges of jueteng links in his government, even though the opposition, including Aquino’s camp, once accepted Cruz’s word when the prelate was attacking the past administration.

Now the Palace is even abolishing the agency set up to investigate corruption allegations against presidential appointees. Every chief executive from Elpidio Quirino in the 1950s had its version of the Presidential Anti-Graft Commission (PAGC) to probe officials in the incumbent administration. PAGC is now among several units under the Office of the President slated for abolition.

Bottom line: If the President aims to fight corruption, he should be as tough on his loyalists as he is on other officials, if not tougher, to make it clear that he wlll not tolerate graft. After all, which is likely to keep officials straight—a leader who will investigate accusations, or one who is quick to dismiss them and defend his loyalists?