HALLOWEEN does not arrive until the last week of October, but the hallows have marched in earlier, clobbering the masses and drowning them, mainly under floodwaters not addressed by fully funded projects.
Others, like public school students, had to stay under trees during the monsoon because the rooftops of their school had been ripped off and blown away while others in the countryside could not attend classes because of damaged bridges.
In the urban centers, many of the students’ purchased laptops remain missing because the Machiavellian Harry Houdini stalked them once upon a credulous time.
And the eye-piercing list has included additional pages.
Such projects, thanks perhaps to recent severe storms, the ghosts were quickly discovered with their pants down which exposed the morally degenerate and the ravenously greedy wearing different sham coats.
Forthwith, the execrated ghosts started reeking from different government agencies – the Departments of Education, Public Works and Highways, Health, Budget and Management, the Commission on Audit, Agriculture – the two houses of Congress where devious insertions were made by wily hands covered by barong Tagalog or chic coats, with their hitherto undetected private sector accomplices wearing safety-focused work wear.
If the arrival of the hallows symbolized a pleasant afterlife for many – the 117 million population from Tawi Tawi to Batanes– it might have raised a pleasant feeling for those who feel they have lost their future.
We heard President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. underline the need to establish solid cases against those involved in aberrant flood control projects, stressing that pursuing weak charges could backfire and undermine government efforts for accountability.
“We know many of these people are not innocent, but if you’re going to bring them to court, you must have a very strong case,” he said.
He warned rushing cases with incomplete or weak evidence could result in dismissals that would embolden violators and damage the credibility of the government’s anti-corruption drive, reiterating all government actions must remain within the bounds of the law.
“We have to follow the law. Otherwise, whatever we do is not legitimate. And we have to be very, very clear that we go after the guilty ones.”
On Sept. 11, President Marcos created the Independent Commission for Infrastructure which is currently investigating suspected anomalous DPWH projects in different parts of the country.
This came 45 days after President Marcos called out those behind irregularities in flood control projects with his new classic in Filipino: “Mahiya naman kayo sa inyong kapwa Pilipino.”
Unknown then by a trusting public was some of those who gave the President a standing ovation would be accused later during the public hearings of making budget insertions in bold billions of pesos.
The people’s anger cannot be muffled for much longer.
They want those accountable punished by law, while having their eyes focused on the destruction of political dynasties and the mistitled party-list political parties.
