The thinking among older government officials is they can afford to do any corrupt acts because they are about to retire anyway. While retirement does not make a corrupt government official exempt from prosecution due to past malpractices, the “culture” in the bureaucracy is to let sleeping dogs lie. “Why bother? He is already retired.”
And so our bureaucrats go on their merry ways. Retired officials having been sent to jail? Nobody.
This is what we see. But the opposite should be a good deterrent. Send some retirees to the bilbid for life due to corruption and we might see a dent on the commission of our national curse.
Not just a few. The government should undertake a relentless drive to hound corrupt retirees. Otherwise, it will just be like all other efforts in the past which can only be described as laughable.
Another national priority should be to go after public officers who had been covering up inept or incompetent or inutile policies that resulted in fiascos or abject failure to attain the desired results of government programs. Some government policies show during pilot implementation that they are clearly ineffective but are still continued to the great prejudice of the treasury because some of the implementers are making money from it or are just lazy to find other more effective ways to achieve targeted results.
Look at the recent international survey where Philippine students were found to be at the bottom (last or second to the last) compared to those of 79 other country respondents in reading skills and in math and science aptitudes. Our very own columnist Estanislao Albano Jr. had been bugging DepEd officials all the way to the secretary, not to mention senators and congressmen in-charge of education, but nothing was ever done to solve the problem. Then came the results of the said survey which made us an international laughing stock.
Why were the first signs of failure of the DepEd not solves or remedied? Because those responsible for the dismal results were covering up the unmistakable failure of their programs and policies.
Now, the matter was slapped on their faces. Some of them should be relentlessly prosecuted. Otherwise, we will always be the way we are.**