From 1960 to 2011, our country has lost $8.05 BILLION A YEAR due to illicit activities. Totaling $410.5 billion, or P19.34 trillion. Wala pang inflation yan.

How big is that money?

• Kung tatanggapin natin ang estimates na $10 billion ang nanakaw ng mga Marcoses. That is the equivalent of 41 Ferdinand Marcoses plundering and raping the Philippines in the more than two decades they were in power.
• Ang external debt ng Pilipinas, in 2017 was $72.36 billion. Meaning kahit i-times five mo pa yang utang na yan, kaya sana nating bayaran.
• Ang national budget ng Pilipinas for 2018 is P3.8 trillion. That money would have paid for five years of the Philippines' operating budget. Or kahit four years na lang, hayaan na natin silang nakawin yung ika-5th year.
• If you spend P1,000 EVERY SECOND, you would need 613 years to spend all of that money. Mamamatay ka na lang di mo pa ubos gastusin ang perang yan, hindi ka pa nga siguro aabot ng one-fourth.

Noong 2016, isa sa sangdamakmak na panggagancho na ginawa ni Duterte eh pangakuan tayo na he will stop corruption daw. In 3 to 6 months daw. Lokohin niya ang lelang niyang panot. Pero even if we do try to be objective, there is no denying that Duterte not only failed to deliver on that promise, the opposite happened.

Corruption under Duterte

According to Transparency International, the Philippines drastically reduced corruption during the Aquino administration. In 2010, it ranked 134 on the Corruption Index. By the time Aquino's reign ended, we were ranked 95 out of 168 (2015). Bongga, tumaas tayo ng 39 notches in just five years. And even if you do not follow Transparency International, kitang kita naman with Napoles, Revilla, Enrile, and yung anak ni Erap? Lahat sila nakulong.
Now, with Duterte at the helm, that dropped six notches to 101 in 2016, and then another 13 to 114 in 2017. Wow besh, 19 points agad ang binaba natin in just one and a half years? Would anybody be surprised to see that in 2018 or 2019, Duterte would have erased all the gains of the previous administration in fighting corruption?

So ano nga ba ang nangyari?

Sa 39 na natanggal sa puwesto dahil sa corruption, 6 lang doon ang nakasuhan. Inuulit ko, 39 cabinet members sacked due to corruption. Only 6 were slapped with complaints, including Argosino and Robles ng BOI, kasi if not, si Vitaliano Aguirre ang mananagot.
Eto ang masakit. Some of those sacked are now back holding government posts.

• Pompee Laviña was fired as Social Security System commissioner, for misusing public funds. Humingi ba naman ng P26 million para sa social media show niya? Tapos gusto pang magpaaccredit ng mga “preferred brokers” niya para sa investments ng SSS. Two months after, he was appointed an undersecretary at the DOT. With Berna Romula Puyat at the DOT putting 6 DOT undersecretaries and assistant secretaries on floating status, even family friend Kat De Castro. Lavina got off scot free, as Duterte transferred Laviña to the DA days before the announcement.
• Commission for the Urban Poor commissioner Melissa Aradanas is now deputy secretary general of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council. She is a cousin of Honeylet.
• Arandanas was fired together with several others, including Joan Lagunda, who is now an ASEC at the DENR.
• Another one of those fired at the Anti Poor Commission, Manuel Serra, Jr. is now with the Philippine Coconut Authority.
• Martin Diño, who was originally ruling party PDP-Laban’s standard-bearer in the 2016 polls before being substituted by Duterte, quickly got the post of Interior and Local Government undersecretary for barangay affairs in exchange for his SBMA chairmanship. In fairness, hindi naman corruption ang kaso ni Dino. Pero yung ang pattern.
• Nicanor Faeldon, nagresign daw from the Bureau of Immigration but was reappointed by Duterte as deputy administrator at the Office of Civil Defense.
• May isa pa, Public Works undersecretary Tingagun Ampaso Umpa, was forced to resign in May after an internal investigation revealed that he committed grave abuse of power and may have also committed acts of corruption. Ardent Duterte supporter din siya, pero since last month pa lang siya natanggal, eh yung pinsan niya muna yung inappoint. Abangan natin next month baka nasa DOT na naman itong Umpa na to.

So sino sino ang mga natanggal at hindi kinasuhan? Ang dami nila besh.

• Former interior secretary Ismael Sueno. Bumili ng hotel sa South Cotabato, tapos bumili ng trucks para sa family business. He also bought trucks for the DILG that were more expensive. Duterte also reported fired him for accepting bribes from different gambling lords.
• Former Energy Regulatory Commission chairman Jose Vicente Salazar. Simple and grave misconduct with elements of corruption.
• Former budget undersecretary Gertrudo de Leon. Humingi ng cut sa budget allocations of different government agencies.
• Terry Ridon, Melissa Aradanas, Manuel Serra Jr, Noel Indonto, and Joan Lagunda. Excessive foreign trips.
• Former Development Academy of the Philippines President Elba Cruz. Excessive trips.
• Former Maritime Industry Authority administrator Marcial Amaro III. Excessive trips.
• Former Commission on Higher Education chairperson Patricia Licuanan. Excessive trips, and allegedly delaying the release of allowances meant for scholars.
• Former Social Security System commissioner Jose Gabrial "Pompee" La Viña and chairman Amado Valdez. Abusing public funds.
• Former labor undersecretary Dominador Say. Corruption relating to activities of labor recruiters.
• Peter Tiu Lavina. Oo Lavina na naman. Sikat sila ha. Lavina was forced to resign, or resigned, depende kung kaninong sinungaling kayong maniniwala kasi kumikickback dawn g 40% on NIA projects.
• DOT’s Wanda Teo and Cesar Montano. P320 million para sa Buhay Carinderia project. Labas pa diyan yung kalokohan ni Wanda at ng mga kapatid niya. Wala tuloy akong mapagsumbungan!
• PhilHealth’s Celestina dela Serna, na habang ang daming hospitals ang hindi nababayaran and while the agency is bleeding money, has the gall to stay in hotel rooms costing P3,800 a night, which is parang room for rent for a month na for ordinary Filipinos. Labas pa doon yung ginagawang Makati to Quezon City lang ang Manila at Bohol, at ginawang Uber ang Philippine Airlines. Gumastos ng another P627,000 for hotels and travels.
• Customs Deputy Commissioner Noel Patrick Sales Prudente for alleged travels abroad.
• Transportation Assistant Secretary Mark Tolentino for “dealing with Presidential sister”. Yun yung official line, pero ang totoong rason, eh loose lips sink ships, nagchika daw kasi itong si Tolentino, kaya nabuking tuloy. Pag hindi sana nabuking, tuloy ang ligaya.
• Government corporate counsel Rudolf Philip Jurado, for allegedly approving a lease agreement good for 75 years that would allow a foreign company to put up a casino-hotel without public bidding, and of providing the company with a gambling permit.

“Whiff of corruption?”

All of these people were fired for corruption, but most of them have gotten off scot free. Corruption, plunder and abuse of public funds all carry a sizable jail term for the convicted. But these are just those na napansin ng media. There are others who until now are in position or resigned before the president could do it for them.
Alan Peter Cayetano, ang tsismis eh misusing the P1-billion fund for ATN daw. Tapos si Aguirre, who was fired for clearing the drug lords, eh may bagong appointment in the works, na pihadong tatanggapin daw niya. Makapal eh. Wag nating palampasin yung National Youth Commission. P300,000 na pang snacks? And what about P647 million na nilustay ng PCOO, P14 million na bonus para kay MTRCB chair Rachel Arenas, a position na ang sweldo eh sabi ni Mocha eh kulang pa raw pangtaxi. P5,000 lang daw.
And what about Bong Go’s travels. From Davao to Manila, to South Korea. Kung may liga ng basketball, may namatay, may binyag, may kasal, kahit na flyover na walang kamalaymalay at nanahimik lang, andiyan si Bong Go, nangangampanya. Or at least may tarpaulin siya. Kahit hindi pa election season. Kung hindi man ito electioneering, pwede bang malaman kung pera ng bayan ang ginagamit dito?
In fact, wag na natin palagpasin lahat ito. It is time to fight back. Let us make our officials accountable for every wrongdoing that they do. Hindi na dapat tawaging act of bravery ang pagsasampa ng kaso laban sa mga tiwaling opisyal. Ang lagay eh, magnanakaw ka pero hindi ka makukulong kung magreresign ka? Yung sales clerk nga na nagnakaw ng isang lata ng corned beef, kulong. Sila pa kaya, na nagiging dahilan kung bakit hindi tayo nakakabayad ng utang natin sa ibang bansa, na kung bakit marami sa atin ang patuloy na naghihirap?
Sila na nagnakaw, nagenjoy, tapos hindi makukulong. Ano yun, thank you sa pagnanakaw niyo sa amin? Basta magresign ka lang?

One of the most frustrating things about the Resorts World Incident is that officials have not been inspiring confidence in their credibility. There are people who come up with conspiracy theories, there are those who doubt if it was really a robbery, and there are those who might be believing the truth presented on media by the government, but still have a lot of questions on their minds. But who could blame them, when the very officials who handled the incident have very different views of what happened as well as experts on the matter having different opinions as well.
Round 1: Is it a terror attack? Bato^delaRosa vs. SITE
Round 2: Sure na hindi ISIS? Bato^delaRosa vs. Defense Sec. Delfin Lorenza (who said we cannot rule ISIS hand in the attack yet)
Round 3: Sure na hindi ISIS? Bato^delaRosa vs. Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez (who said he disagrees with Bato's lone wolf assessment" and insists it's a terror attack similar to what has been seen in other countries.
Round 4: What is terror? Bato^delaRosa (hindi terorista kasi hindi naman niya binabaril yung mga tao) vs. terror analyst Sidney Jones (who said that terror is a form of violence that aims to influence an audience...and can still sow fear in those who identifies with the victims, even without the use of gunfire)
Round 5: What is terror? Bato^delaRosa (hindi terror yun kasi pataas yung baril) vs. Raffy Alunan (who said that a "hallmark" of a terrorist attack is having a venue that has "high human traffic" and is "frequented by foreigners.")
Round 6: The death of the shooter. Bato^delaRosa (nanlaban, kaya pinatay) vs. Abella and Albayalde (suicide)
Round 7: Hotel security guard accidentally shot himself. Bato^delaRosa vs. RWM COO Stephen Reilly
Round 8: Robbery? Bato^delaRosa vs. Raffy Alunan (who expressed shock at the conclusion, and said that the shooter's actions were not the footprints of a thief)

Bato vs. the Truth

Sige fine. Siguro difference in opinion lang talaga. Baka nga naman may access si Bato sa information and intelligence reports na confidential at hindi natin alam. But what about the PNP Chief's pronouncements that were later proven to be false?
Bato: Foreigner, Caucasian ang suspect.
Truth: Jessie Javier Carlos is a Filipino
Bato: Naka private car sya. We are looking for his car.
Truth: He came in a taxi.
Bato: Claimed that the gunman was killed after resisting arrest
Truth: It was the security personnel of RWM who wounded the suspect
Bato: Lahat ng empleyado at guests ng Resorts World ay na-evacuate.
Truth: Close to 40 people died.
Bato: Yung security guard ng RWM, nabaril sarili niya...
Truth: Stephen Reilly denied the report of Philippine National Police Ronald dela Rosa that a security guard of the casino accidentally shot himself.
BONUS: From John Nery, May 2, 2017

No chief of the Philippine National Police has brought as much disgrace and discredit to the institution he heads as Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, a likeable enough police officer promoted beyond his capacity and competence. His chief claim to fame was his total support for the presidential candidacy of Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, whom he worked with closely when he was Davao City police chief; the main reason he remains head of the country’s 170,000 police officers is the President’s complete trust in him.
In what way has Dela Rosa been detrimental to the long-term interest of the PNP?
First, he has trivialized his office. Dela Rosa is the first PNP chief to allow a police mascot to be made in his likeness; he has not only encouraged the use of the “Bato” mascot, distinguished by its bald head, but also revels in it. This is quite literally a caricature of the enormous responsibility the national police chief must discharge—especially if one were to believe the administration propaganda about the severity of the illegal drugs problem. But the mascot is perfectly representative of Dela Rosa’s approach to law enforcement: cut a high media profile, and then hope for the best.
Alvarez’s cutting comments last January attacked this aspect of Dela Rosa’s time in office: He seems, the Speaker wrote, to be more “interested in having a show biz career and in landing on society pages of newspapers with his being everywhere doing mundane things like singing videoke and watching concerts.” This celebrity-seeking orientation is demoralizing to the ordinary policeman, who must contend with more and more questions about the role of the PNP in the bloody war on drugs, which mostly claims the lives of the poor.
Second, he has politicized the office. Dela Rosa must have been the first PNP chief to respond to questions from senators inquiring into police matters according to their political affiliation; unctuous toward administration allies, passive-aggressive toward opposition lawmakers. This is unprofessional conduct that has consequences down the line. But beyond this, there is also the widely shared perception, discussed by politician and policeman alike, that following his initial burst of popularity he is preparing for a Senate run.
I understand Alvarez’s warning then, that Dela Rosa “buckle down to work or better yet give the job to someone else who is dead serious in leading the PNP,” as a shot across the bow of the PNP chief’s political ambitions.
Third, he has failed to exercise true leadership, and because of his failure, the PNP has created subcultures of impunity. These have allowed the PNP’s own illegal drugs task force to murder the likes of Jee Ick-joo, and the Manila police to host a legalized kidnap-for-ransom business. Dela Rosa’s preferred mode of interaction with the men and women of the PNP, the blustery speech, has no real impact. As Alvarez said last January: “The commission of a heinous crime right [under] his very nose is not only an insult but [also] a clear indication that he has lost the respect of his people.”

And now we have a fourth, shooting off his mouth whenever he sees media reporters and TV cameras.