Due diligence?

Published by the Visayan Daily Star Publications, Inc.

NINFA R. LEONARDIA Editor-in-Chief & President

CARLA P. GOMEZ Editor GUILLERMO TEJIDA III Desk Editor PATRICK PANGILINAN Busines Editor NIDA A. BUENAFE Sports Editor RENE GENOVE Bureau Chief, Dumaguete MAJA P. DELY Advertising Coordinator

CARLOS ANTONIO L. LEONARDIA Administrative Officer

How difficult is it to comprehend the appointment of a newly retired general facing a plunder suit as the new head of the Bureau of Corrections by a President who is supposed to be on the warpath against corruption and his so-called “wangwangs” of society?

The new head of the BuCor, Lt. Gen. Gaudencio Pangilinan, is among the many military officers accused of the crime of plunder by former Armed Forces of the Philippines budget officer and retired Lt. Col. George Rabusa, the whistleblower in what many believe to be the biggest fund diversion scandal in the AFP that involved billions of pesos in funds finding its way to the pockets of military officers.

Rabusa’s testimony, as well as the documentary evidence he has submitted to support his allegations, is supposed to be one of the major milestones in the much-vaunted crusade against corruption of President Benigno Aquino III. Assuming that PNoy wants to ensure that all his appointments to important government positions are not only competent, but are also of unquestionable integrity; how can he even consider appointing someone who is accused of the crime of plunder? Does his advisers even know the meaning of the terms “due diligence” and “sending mixed signals”?

Pangilinan’s appointment was signed on June 19, a few days before PNoy’s 2nd SONA, a time when the president must have been crafting his speech that gave a lot of attention to the rot and “wangwangs” of the society that he presumably wants to reform. And yet he appointed someone accused of plunder to head the BuCor. Such a reckless appointment cannot help but raise questions regarding PNoy’s commitment to his crusade against corruption.

 If it turns out that PNoy, who can stomach appointing someone accused of plunder to sensitive positions such as the head of BuCor, is not as tough on the corrupt and plunderers as he would like us to believe, then where does that leave us when it is the only thing he can actually crow about after one year in office?*