Lessons from a selective Daang Matuwid

By the time this column appears again next week, we shall have elected a new president to run the country in the next six years.

And by the looks of it, despite all the allegations, brickbats and all kinds of obstacles thrown along his way (some of which he brought unto himself), survey front-runner Rodrigo Duterte will probably emerge the winner much to the chagrin of those who think his presidency will be marked by utter chaos.

That is, assuming clean and honest elections and, in the words of Bar topnotcher and seventh district congressional candidate, Pablo John Garcia, that the police stay neutral this time unlike in 2013.

If indeed Duterte garners the mandate of the Filipino people, will this mean the end of the anti-corruption experiment encapsulated by the words “Daang Matuwid” or the straight path?

I do not think so. The slogan “Daang Matuwid” will surely disappear but not the desire of all Filipinos to ensure a government that is incorruptible. After all, despite their differences, all presidential candidates have vowed to address corruption, which even the uneducated voter knows is the biggest stumbling block to the development of this country and the end of poverty.

So why is Mar Roxas, the Liberal Party (LP) candidate bearing the anti-corruption banner of the administration, still not leading in the surveys? What, pray tell really, went wrong with Daang Matuwid that it does not seem to be a viable slogan anymore in the midst of the Duterte camp foisting a clarion call for a change or the Poe camp avowing leadership with a heart?

Senator Alan Peter Cayetano’s response to presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda’s tirade against the former’s defense of Duterte’s shortcomings gives us a bird’s eye view of how “Daang Matuwid” operated in reality: “You know, Edwin, for five years, I kept on reminding the administration of the need for bills and programs that fortify our democratic institution against corruption. Sadly, because of your ‘selective justice’ and ‘selective anti-corruption campaign,’ you failed to realize the necessary reforms to stop the abuse of power.”

Nowhere is this selectivity more glaring than in the administration’s patent failure — or should I say vehement avoidance — to pass the Freedom of Information bill, which President Aquino, during his campaign sorties in 2010, foisted as one of the first things he would do once in Malacañang.

The sad reality is that Aquino needed all the allies he could, corrupt or not, as he pursued his vision of “Daang Matuwid.” And in doing, this meant whittling away certain anti-corruption principles that should have normally been non-negotiable. In sleeping with the enemy, as it were, “Daang Matuwid” was severely watered down.

And by doing so, the Aquino government seems to be saying that the system of corruption in this country is now far too entrenched and so widespread that it even had to work with those of shady reputations. It’s like saying that to foist a genuine incorruptible government would have required of Aquino to pursue an authoritarian leadership marked by the temporary (for how long?) suspension of certain rights and freedoms.

Coming out of a long and failed experiment with just such an authoritarian government under Ferdinand Marcos, the alternative was to simply punch holes into the system, hoping it would eventually collapse. But it has not.

With a bicameral system of legislation, for one, six years is just too short to weed this country of scalawags. Our experiment with a bicameral system of governance since 1946 has made it even more difficult to pass laws to address the tentacles of self-aggrandizement. Maybe it is time to pursue a unicameral system in the likes of the United Kingdom or of our neighbor Malaysia, where elected political leaders can be summoned any time to answer for their shortcomings rather than wait for the next elections.

The next six years, as everyone keeps repeating days before any national elections, is crucial. And I hope everyone thinks carefully before they decide who should lead this country until 2022.