Sincerity makes the very least person to be of more value than the most talented hypocrite.
— Baptist preacher Charles Haddon Spurgeon
If President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr. (PBBM)’s reshuffle of the the departments of public works and highways and transportation aims to solve the problems of both agencies, we beg to defer as this will not fulfill the intention of solving any of the concerns at hand.
We echo what the Makabayan bloc in the House of Representatives have described the revamp—a “musical chairs” move that won’t fix corruption in the DPWH nor the nagging transport issues of the DoTr that has continually beset us for decades.
What is actually needed in achieving the huge task of resolving these are two things—accountability and reforms—instead of merely swapping both department’s top officials.
Malacañan claims that the change aim to continue anti-corruption reforms in the DPWH with Mr. Giovanni ‘Banoy’ Lopez at the helm while upgrading the transportation sector and improving traffic and commuting with the comebacking Vivencio ‘Vince’ Dizon on top of the DoTr.
But reality is cruel at times and the truth is that the return of Dizon to the DoTr and the transfer of Lopez to the DPWH will not solve corruption or improve public services—that is if there is no genuine accountability.
As Makabahan lawmakers have clearly pointed out, the movement of officials do not address systemic corruption in infrastructure projects or the persistent problems hounding public transportation.
The public deserve more than what is described as a symbolic reshuffle.
What the citizenry wants is an end to corruption that involves billion-peso ghost projects, substandard roads and flood control structures, and collusion between contractors and public officials.
Sadly until now, those responsible for these grave bureaucratic infractions remain unpunished and they continue to evade justice.
So, what we can say now is that the ‘reshuffle’ is just a mere ‘press release’ by the Marcos Jr. administration.
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