Long story short, the quick fix Inquirer columnist Randy David describes in his recent piece “Beyond the outrage” was tried before and it didn’t work. Calls for the president’s resignation or ouster and the installation of a national transition council or a civil-military junta aren’t options. That is, except for the leftist-militant groups which are actually all for it.
But given the political structure, can reforms be passed by the legislature and will the executive take the lead in doing so? That is the operative question. David writes…
If we hope to address corruption at its roots, we must confront the premodern features of our political system: dynastic networks, pork barrel politics, electoral clientelism, loyalty-based appointments, and informal hierarchies within the civil service. None of these can be dismantled overnight. Some require constitutional revision; others demand bureaucratic restructuring. All require civic engagement and a citizenry that refuses to retreat into despair.
The late former President Cory Aquino had all the support and goodwill in the year she led a “revolutionary government” but she wasn’t bold enough to introduce the needed reforms. Instead, it was political vendetta that she pursued — one that only served the interests of her relatives and allies and not that of the Filipino people. It was under the Cory administration that the term OIC or officer-in-charge was institutionalized and this is why there are more political appointees to the civil service than career bureaucrats for this reason.
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The president did approve the Philippine Civil Service Modernization Project, a four-year undertaking financed by the World Bank with a P4 billion loan that had as its goal the digitalization of the civil service and the review and updating of qualification standards for each position and the integration of competency based assessment. Even if the project had been completed, its implementation was another thing altogether as this would have had to eliminate ghost employees and minimize if not curb, other anomalies in the personnel services component of the budget which is also prone to corruption.
It is interesting to note that David’s late wife, Karmina Constantino David, was also appointed chairperson of the Civil Service Commission but she did nothing to reform the system during her tenure. And this is why I’m skeptical that the present administration will initiate the much needed restructuring of the government given the socio-political environment which has been in place since the time of the Spaniards.
There is no greater example of what’s wrong with the system than the announcement of Trade Secretary Maria Cristina Aldeguer-Roque that P500 is enough for one family’s noche buena for Christmas. Even a political appointee should know better given her educational background. But instead, she exhibited gross insensitivity to the plight of the public who suffer the most from the high prices of basic commodities.
- Token outrage and politically-motivated street rallies contribute very little to the reform agenda - December 1, 2025
- Renovate or detonate? Can a profoundly-corrupt society like the Philippines be fixed without first killing it at its roots? - October 23, 2025
- All just optics: September 21 Luneta rally won’t deliver results — only dishonest optics - September 22, 2025