“There should not be a place for corruption.”
This is what Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. said during a briefing with three media entities as president-elect in May when asked about the alleged corrupt practices in the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the Bureau of Customs (BOC).
But how he intends to solve corruption in government was missing in his inaugural speech today, only that he will have “no excuses” once he sits as president. He did admit “shortcomings” in the Duterte administration’s pandemic response, saying there will be “(n)o more secrets in public health.” (Last year, the Senate investigated Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp. after bagging more than P10 billion worth of pandemic-related government contracts.)
Marcos Jr.’s family legacy is hounded by one of the worst corruption cases ever recorded in history. The family plundered billions of dollars in public funds. The Presidential Commission on Good Government, the agency mandated to recover all ill-gotten wealth accumulated by the president’s father, his family and associates, in the Philippines or abroad, has yet to retrieve all such assets.
Moreover, the family remains to have unpaid taxes. In 1997, the Supreme Court ordered the Marcos heirs to pay P23 billion in estate tax. Experts say that amount is now worth P203 billion with penalties and interests accounted for. The president has not made any statement about the issue.
The Marcos matriarch, Imelda Marcos, is already convicted of seven counts of graft. In 2018, the former first lady was sentenced to imprisonment of 42 years and seven months to 77 years by the Sandiganbayan. She is also perpetually disqualified from public office.
Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Trixie Angeles said in May that Marcos Jr. will continue to face pending cases against the family. END