MANILA — The leadership reshuffle at the House of Representatives is “not enough,” according to organizers of the recent anti-corruption protests, because no one has so far been held accountable, and traditional politicians even appeared to have been victorious in both chambers of Congress.
“We feel that’s not enough,” former Bayan Muna Rep. Teodoro Casiño, now chair of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan).
“It’s not enough for there to be staged investigations. It’s not enough for there to be a reshuffle in leadership,” he said. “What’s needed is for everyone involved to be held accountable. They should be imprisoned.”
Former House lawmaker Liza Maza, who was also at the briefing, said: “The people won’t be satisfied with investigations, with a commission, with a reshuffle both in the Senate and in Congress.”
Maza, who represented Bayan Muna and the Gabriela Women’s Party in the 12th, 13th, and 14th Congress, is now president of the Makabayang Koalisyon ng Mamamayan.
She noted that while employees of the Department of Public Works and Highways were sacked and charged for corruption over “ghost” and substandard flood control projects, the politicians tagged by spouses, Pacifico “Curlee” and Cezarah “Sarah” Discaya, at a Senate hearing, have remained untouched.
House Speaker Martin Romualdez, who was one of the lawmakers named by Curlee Discaya, stepped down from his post on Wednesday, while his Senate counterpart, Francis “Chiz” Escudero, was ousted in a coup after he admitted to receiving a P30 million donation from a government contractor.
“There needs to be justice,” Maza insisted. “There needs to be justice for the poor who always bear the brunt of these corrupt traditional politicians.” (Jason Sigales, Mary Joy Salcedo © Philippine Daily Inquirer)
