ADMU, DLSU, MC, UP: Support the truth amid pork barrel scam

The following is a joint statement from the presidents of the Ateneo de Manila University, De La Salle University, Miriam College and the University of the Philippines regarding the pork barrel scam.

The truth, it is oft retold, will set us free – including those who thrive on falsehood and those who should therefore be held accountable and punished for crimes committed against the Filipino people. 

We, Presidents of various Philippine Universities and Colleges, restate our collective condemnation of the misuse of public funds by unscrupulous government officials and their conniving associates. We join the sustained clamor of the people to end the deeply-entrenched culture of graft, corruption and patronage in our political system. 

We have in the past called on the faculty, students, staff, and alumni of our respective academic institutions, as well as those of other schools, to tap our institutional capacities in analyzing the complex issues related to corruption and public accountability, such as the extent of discretion exercised by government officials in the use of public funds, the implementation of projects, the public accounting system, and public budgeting; and to discern from this analysis the solutions that are actionable and sustained. We renew our call for mobilization and participation in activities that will promote greater transparency and accountability in the country. 

With the most recent surfacing of another witness/whistle-blower claiming to cast additional light on the “Naploes-related” acts of abuse of public funds, we make this added plea for academic communities and the rest of Philippine society to take a keen interest in, and to patriotically support, the emergence of the truth and the requisite acts of justice and reparation that must follow from the truth. We ask the institutions tasked by law to ensure transparency and accountability in public service to expedite 

their investigations of the Napoles-related abuse of public funds and all other such cases of thievery in public service. We insist that the appropriate cases against public officials involved in corruption and plunder be filed and prosecuted with the dispatch due not only the accused and the respondents but the aggrieved and victimized nation even more. 

The answer, not oft sung anymore, is blowing (and whistling) in the wind. Will we never tire of asking “how many times can a man turn his head, pretending he just doesn’t see?” Let the answers we seek be found not just in the wind, but in our very selves. As institutions of higher learning, we send word to our nation that we shall keep vigil until the truth is told and we at last are free.