SYSTEMIC MISMANAGEMENT
Protestors are demanding the arrest of those implicated in the graft and the return of stolen public money. Government officials say that over the past decade, losses due to corruption exceed a trillion pesos (US$17 billion). Authorities have detained several suspects and more are being pursued.
The president has pledged to jail those responsible by Christmas to contain the crisis that’s rapidly engulfing his administration – he’s already lost two ministers over corruption allegations (that they deny).
Each new case that comes to light shows how systemic the mismanagement is. “To have a government that makes dams that will break, or flood dykes that are substandard – or simply not build them – it feels like a deep betrayal when your country is so vulnerable,” Priyanka Kishore, founder and principal economist at Asia Decoded told me.
Investor confidence has been rattled. The peso has weakened, and the scandal has hit the economy, with GDP slowing to 4 per cent in the third quarter, the weakest pace since 2021. Consumer confidence has taken a hit, with household spending declining to a four-year low.
There are other reasons to be concerned. Last week, Alice Guo, a former mayor of Bamban, an agricultural town of about 78,000 people, was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for human trafficking over her role in setting up a scam centre. The case has highlighted how dysfunctional governance has become.
Some officials have alleged Guo might be a Chinese national who assumed a Filipino name to qualify for office, while others have suggested she could be a spy. Bamban lies near a Philippine military base that has hosted US forces, adding a sensitive strategic dimension in a country that is a key American ally.
Washington and Manila’s regional partners will be following the fallout with growing unease. It’s difficult to rely on a government to fully participate in an alliance to counter China when it’s fighting so many fires at home.
Source: CNA
