If the Philippines has earned an unsavory reputation as the third- most corrupt country in the world, it is not undeserved. After all, corruption seems to be taking place everywhere—especially at the immigration, customs and internal revenue bureaus, even at the Land Transportation Office and Land Transportation Franchising Regulatory Board, two attached agencies of the Department of Transportation—that President Duterte has reiterated his policy of zero tolerance for monkey business in the bureaucracy.
Upon assuming office, Duterte vowed to eradicate corruption in his government and assured businessmen that there will be no extortion under his watch.
“I assure you, businessmen, not only in Makati but throughout the Philippines, all the Chinese here, there will be no extortion either from customs or the BIR [Bureau of Internal Revenue],” he said.
The Bureau of Immigration (BI), for instance, has been shaken to its very foundations by the alleged involvement of some of its top officials in extorting P50 million from Chinese gambling operator Jack Lam after authorities raided an online casino in Clark, Pampanga, and found more than 1,300 undocumented Chinese nationals working there.
Unscrupulous BI personnel are also believed to be selling fake entry visas at a staggering amount of P500,000 each to foreigners who want to come here for good or engage in illegal businesses. Tens of thousands of foreigners enter the country yearly this way.
Corruption in the immigration bureau is said to be well-entrenched, with a lawmaker claiming a group in the agency may turn out to be the biggest and the most organized crime syndicate in Asia whose money-making schemes may even dwarf that of any terrorist group or drug cartel in the region.
The customs bureau is another den of corruption. Last October the agency relieved the officer in charge of the Enforcement Group after Duterte himself mentioned in a speech that he wanted an official of the bureau, whom he did not name, sacked for corrupt activities.
A ranking Malacañang official during the previous administration disclosed that corruption in the bureau is definitely a contributing factor for the recent congestion in the Port of Manila.
Meanwhile, newspapers recently reported the involvement of several high-profile inmates at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in the illegal- drugs trade. Less known by the public is that erring officials of the NBP are said to demand money from inmates applying for parole. The police force has not been spared either from the contagion of corruption. At least 100 police officers from Metro Manila accused of extortion or having links to the illegal-drugs trade will be sent to Mindanao, the National Capital Region Police Office disclosed recently.
Duterte has said some people in the government abuse their power because they know that our judicial processes take too long. This is the reason, he said, that he would order the immediate removal of corrupt public officials and the National Bureau of Investigation to focus on graft and corruption cases.
It’s not just in the government but also in the private sector that corruption appears pervasive.
A case, for instance, has been filed against a certain Ronelo Villanueva before the Regional Trial Court Branch 69 in Pasig City for alleged extortion of a large sum of money from a reputable and established insurance broker in the country. Villanueva, a resident of Parañaque City, and his cohorts are alleged to have visited numerous government agencies to file a complaint and, thus, impugn the integrity of the insurance broker. The group would claim before authorities that the insurance broker operates in the country without license and other pertinent papers, and must, therefore, be shut down.
A few days later, a “ranking government official” would call the insurance broker to tell him that his business operates without a license, and then demand a huge sum to let him off the hook.
Villanueva is also facing a charge of grave threats for hounding the insurance broker for the past three years after he refused to give the amount being asked by the group. It was learned that Villanueva’s group has been operating for the past three years and their modus operandi takes place not only in Metro Manila but also in other parts of the country and even abroad.
Will the Duterte administration put its foot down and go after the corrupt with the same zeal that it is now going after drug pushers?
E-mail: ernhil@yahoo.com.