EDITORIAL - Corruption worse now than before

The phrase “playing deaf and dumb” does not quite capture the essence of what an extremely disgusted President Aquino must have felt when, at a time when it was still both fashionable and justified to castigate his predecessors for anything under the sun, he blurts out at every opportunity its Tagalog translation.

“Nagbingibingian at nagbulagbulagan lang.” That was how Aquino would describe the perceived apathy of the previous administration in dealing with such issues so close to his heart as corruption. To him, this apathy either works to perpetuate the corruption or, worse, to encourage it.

But there is a limit to where and when Aquino can no longer pass on the blame for corruption to his predecessors without looking like nothing more than a whiner who constantly gripes about the shortcomings of others but cannot seem to get around to admitting that eventually the blame is no longer anybody's but his.

Aquino is now more than halfway through his six-year term. The time for buck-passing is over. The ball is finally in his hands, and he has just a limited number of seconds within which to shoot. But apparently he just cannot seem to pull the trigger, regardless of whoever is in the center of his crosshairs.

It is very apparent, perhaps even to Aquino himself, that his vaunted fight against corruption is all but over, if it had not been a myth all these years. There is a crook everywhere you look these days and Aquino is not doing anything about.

The man who made “nagbingibingian at nagbulagbulagan lang” such an engaging phrase and such an effective political tool has clay feet after all. On the matter of getting rid of corruption, it is Aquino who gets to play deaf and dumb.

Tales of corruption, many of them in the highest of places, are getting told more openly and loudly. Actual scenes of corruption are being acted out more brazenly and frequently. It is now Aquino who is playing deaf and dumb. Siya na ngayon ang nagbingibingian at nagbulagbulagan lang.

Corruption under this administration is worse than in the previous ones not because of some measurable tick up the scales of this evil. Corruption is much worse under this administration for the simple reason that it continues to exist in an environment that is supposedly corruption-free.