THE extent of military corruption unearthed in the current Senate hearing on the Armed Forces’ “pabaon” system boggles the mind.
But the revelations do not shock President Noynoy Aquino anymore as he was quoted as saying.
Noynoy’s near nonchalant reaction seems characteristic of that of the ordinary Filipinos most of whose most common question about the military scandal which is like the sh… hitting the ceiling fan is: “expose’ now, what happens next?
Indeed, after the much maligned graft-ridden Gloria Arroyo administration, exposing wrongdoings in government, no longer shocks the increasingly cynical people.
Still, many Filipinos believe that the military scandal, involving the stealing of people’s money by high-ranking officers of the Armed Forces, at the expense of the suffering foot soldiers, should be seriously considered by P-Noy as a golden opportunity to rid itself of rotten eggs and start an honest to goodness war on corruption in the government.
The eyes of the entire nation is now on Noynoy, watching how his leadership, his government will react to the mess. Will he seize this window of opportunity to reform the military and later, the entire bureaucracy? Will he just fold his arms and say he is no longer shocked with the reports?
The nation, especially the foot soldiers who are considered the most aggrieved by their superiors’ plundering, are waiting for the moves of the President. If his actions are not satisfactory, he will be judged as incompetent and undeserving of the trust that the people have reposed in him.
