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Friday, March 29, 2024

Firing is not enough

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AFTER firing his friend and former campaign spokesman as head of the National Irrigation Administration over allegations of extortion, President Rodrigo Duterte promised to sack more of his appointees who are tainted with corruption.

“In the coming days, I’m going to fire additional people whom I have appointed in government. There are many of them, I’m still trying to figure out how it was done,” Duterte said while in Cagayan de Oro City on Friday.

Earlier, Duterte had also fired two fraternity brothers who were at the center of a bribery scandal at the Bureau of Immigration.

“This is my warning to those in the government: whether you are a director or [career executive service officer] or [even] civil service eligible, I’m telling you stop it. At least for six years while I’m still sitting in office,” he said.

“Corruption will stop and it will stop. I am telling you I will put a stop to it,” he added.

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While we applaud Mr. Duterte’s moves to stop corruption in his administration, we are compelled to point out two problems with his approach.

First, simply firing government officials who are accused of corruption will not solve the deep-rooted problem, particularly if the administrative sanction is not followed by criminal prosecution and a swift conviction.

In the case of the sacked NIA administrator, we were even treated to his posts on social media professing his innocence and explaining his decision to “quietly” leave office to spare President Duterte the embarrassment of dealing with “false” rumors that he received money from private contractors.

Are we to simply take the NIA administrator’s word for it that he did no wrong? Wouldn’t it be more prudent not only to fire him and investigate the charges against him?

Nobody accused of corruption should be able to “quietly” leave government. They must be investigated, and if the facts warrant it, be prosecuted as well.

The lesson learned long ago by Singapore, which has been deemed one of the least corrupt nations in the world, is that the certainty of being caught and punished is the best deterrent to corruption. Being allowed to quietly leave office is not punishment; it’s an exit plan.

The second problem with Mr. Duterte’s latest statement is that aiming for six years without corruption is awfully shortsighted and lacking in ambition. To say he wants honest government only for the next six years suggests Mr. Duterte is not ready to pursue institutional reforms that will reduce if not eradicate corruption well beyond his administration. Surely this would be a far better legacy than six “clean” years.

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