The rightful place for the corrupt is prison, not government

Sending corrupt officials to jail is the justice that everyone seeks on September 21. From the People Power Monument, Luneta, and other cities nationwide: ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! JAIL THEM NOW! is the resounding cry.

 

The Partido Manggagawa (PM) is participating today in the Trillion Peso March at the People Power Monument, together with Church leaders, the Simbahan at Komunidad Laban sa Katiwalian (SIKLAB), and many other organizations.

 

Over ₱1 trillion in funds for flood control projects from 2016 to 2025 has been swept away by anomalies – ghost projects, “manananggal” (half-done or left unfinished), and most, if not all, were substandard. This is because many thieving hands took their shares: congressmen, senators, contractors, and syndicates within the DPWH bureaucracy. Even the eyes of the COA were blinded. Many cases have already been exposed across the country, and surely more will be uncovered in the coming days.

 

This is high level corruption, but the explanation goes beyond the issue of flood control projects. The joy of stealing may be dismissed as a personal flaw – and some say that mere repentance for sin is enough. Alan Cayetano is wrong here. Corruption is a crime under the law, and the proper place for them is prison, not the confessional.

 

Corruption is also a system. It is tied to the issues of control and power – stealing in order to stay in power, and vice versa. This is where the impunity of government officials springs from. When political power and wealth – now embodied by political dynasties – are claimed as the private property of a few families for life, corruption develops into a system and the practice normalized.

 

It is reform, not repentance, that can change this system. We need real democracy, not traditional politics.

 

Thus, aside from demanding jail terms for the corrupt, workers also fight not only for wage increases but also for increased budgets and quality public services – not temporary aid, but universal social protection that is adequate and accessible for everyone. This is where our billions in taxes must go.

 

We campaign not only for  workers’ security of tenure but also for the regularization of all mechanisms of transparency, such as the Freedom of Information (FOI) and citizen participation in decision-making at all levels of governance.

 

We demand not only for independence and workers freedom of association but also for an independent body to go after corrupt officials.

 

In politics, we fight for the passage of an anti-political dynasty law, reforms in the party-list system, and other reforms that will dismantle the trapo (traditional politician) and corporate dominance of our electoral system.

 

This is where the workers’ struggle differs from the empty cry of a certified trapo, Chavit Singson, for a so-called “revolution against corruption.” ###