No proof of wrongdoing against Sueno

Batas Mauricio

MANY are getting confused with the pronouncements of President Duterte with respect to his basis in ousting former Interior Secretary Ismael Sueno. According to him on Thursday, as long as corruption is attributed to any official, his expulsion from his or her position becomes a certainty.

It would appear that simply because corruption is whispered about as having attended the purchase, during the time yet of former President Noynoy Aquino, of several firetrucks by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and Sueno nevertheless conformed to that purchase, he is to be considered as part of the anomaly that attended the transaction.

Because of that, Sueno was removed from his post. What is painful here is that, the President admitted in his comments on Thursday that there really was no evidence that Sueno profited in any way from the purchase of the firetrucks in question. What simply mattered to the President was that Sueno agreed to the sale, and so he is a party to the questionable transaction.

The problem here is that it is similarly clear that other allegations of corruption have surfaced in the past several months since July 1, 2016 affecting many other officials of the Duterte government. These allegations have been reported even by the media–print, radio, TV and social media.

But the officials that are tagged in these allegations are not even questioned in any way. So the question here is this: what is the difference between the allegations against Sueno and against former presidential assistant  Peter Tiu Laviña, and the allegations against the other untouched officials?

Why were Sueno and Laviña, and also the woman undersecretary whose responsibilities pertained to the importation of rice, were immediately ousted? Why are the other officials who are also alleged to have committed corruption in their own departments are left untouched up to now? Why the difference in treatment?

I wish to make it clear that I remain to be fully supportive of President Duterte in his thrusts and directions as the highest official of government. I remain firm in my belief that his intentions are pure and noble, that he really is sincere in his objective of instituting true and real change in government, for the benefit of the people.

But I am fervently praying that God will grant him more wisdom and discernment, and strength in his convictions, so that he could likewise attend to the lingering allegations of corruption in other agencies of government, enabling him to lessen, if not totally eradicate, corruption.

For example, he can take a look at the cases against smugglers which the Department of Justice is handling. We know that many of these cases are wrapped in total secrecy, from the time they were filed with the DOJ, up to now. It would have been alright if these cases involved only millions of smuggled goods. But they affect trillions of pesos in unpaid taxes. Why are there no reports about them?

E-mail: batasmauricio@yahoo.com