EDITORIAL - Opportunists, keep out

The amounts of kickbacks that former public works officials have started returning to national coffers bolster estimates that the total plundered by thieves from flood control and other infrastructure projects will total trillions of pesos.

Last Friday, in an unforgettable sight in the annals of corruption in this country, Henry Alcantara turned over P110 million in cold cash to the government as restitution in return for provisional acceptance as a state witness.

The Department of Justice said the Land Bank of the Philippines would check the staggering pile of cash for counterfeits before the money is turned over to the National Treasury. According to President Marcos, the government expects another P200 million in restitution from Alcantara, the former Bulacan first district engineer of the Department of Public Works and Highways.

Former DPWH undersecretary Roberto Bernardo has also reportedly returned P7 million to the treasury, in exchange for provisional acceptance as a state witness. Since he’s Alcantara’s superior, that must be just a drop in the bucket compared to the amount Bernardo is believed to have pocketed.

It will be up to the courts to decide whether the two, who are currently under provisional state protection, can be accepted as state witnesses. This will mean that they are not the most guilty.

The question is whether the most guilty in this scandal, including dozens of lawmakers, can actually be held accountable and punished.

Despite promises by top government officials led by the President that crooks would be in jail before Christmas, accountability and punishment of the big fish continue to be the theme of today’s second installment of the Trillion Peso March.

It’s a theme that today’s protesters know only too well must not be hijacked by groups out to sow disorder in pursuit of personal agendas.

Certain quarters salivating to grab power have been trying to exploit public outrage against corruption so they can take over the systematic looting. Others are using the unrest to shake down or demand concessions from the administration.

These are opportunists who believe that in this country, meaningful and enduring reforms to promote clean governance is nothing but a pipe dream. Those who try to hijack the legitimate grievances that will be expressed in today’s Trillion Peso March must themselves be included among those subjected to public opprobrium.