ACCOUNTABILITY IN THE PHILIPPINES
By Karl Garcia
In the Philippines, accountability often follows two tired scripts. Either authorities hunt for a single “mastermind” to blame, or they cast a wide dragnet to prove action is being taken. Both are politically convenient—and both consistently fail.
The mastermind narrative is comforting. It reduces corruption to one villain, one face to condemn. But corruption rarely works that way. Behind every fall guy is a web of approvers, fixers, auditors, suppliers, and political patrons who quietly survive the scandal. Punish the individual, and the system adapts and endures.
The dragnet is no better. Under public pressure, investigations expand indiscriminately. Minor officials and peripheral actors are swept in, reputations are destroyed, due process thins out—and still the real architects remain untouched. This is accountability by volume, not by precision.
We see this pattern across sectors, from health procurement to agriculture to regulation. Either one person is scapegoated, or many are rounded up for optics, while the real enablers—vague laws, discretionary power, weak audits, and political accommodation—are left intact. The spectacle substitutes for reform.
Corruption is not an individual failure; it is an ecosystem. It thrives where rules are loose, oversight is weak, and the political cost of abuse is low. Real accountability means building systems that make corruption difficult: clear laws, transparent procurement, real-time audit trails, independent oversight, and protection for whistleblowers.
This precision matters most in asset recovery. Justice should not punish heirs or collateral victims decades later. Modern forensic finance allows the state to trace and seize only illicit wealth, accurately and fairly. Precision replaces collective punishment.
Until we abandon the false choice between the mastermind and the dragnet, we will keep performing accountability instead of practicing it. The country deserves institutions strong enough that corruption fails not because a villain was caught—but because the system leaves no room for it to succeed.
The Society of Honor by Joe America 
Filipinos are conveniently and intentionally weak in investigation. They investigate in public to telegraph their cohorts how close they are in unraveling perpetrators, or, so cohorts knows who they are to bribe, maybe, so they can spin their yarns so convoluted that investigators will have difficulty in untangling the threads that they just give up and the perps go scot free and the people following the muro-muro investigation gets so confused they just stop following.
Thanks for your comment and I share your frustrations but I am still hopeful that the next generation will change how things are done.
What bothers me, no, not really bother i am not bothered anymore because it was normal it is still is and will be normal that in DPWH muro-muro investigation COA and the banks are not investigated. COA did not find audit exceptions of cashed checks in huge amount and banks did not report to AMLC millions were cashed above AMLC’s 500k required mandatory reporting despite “know-your-client” bank’s principle.
TAKE THIS: DPWH officers go to Land Bank or DBP to cash multi-million peso check payable to contractors. If they were able to cash the multi-million check it must be payable to DPWH officers. If they were payable to DPWH officers, COA should have flagged it Red. Hello, COA, are you listening? What about Lacson? and ICC. Isn’t that incredible?
This is getting more incredulously incredible. “Sir, DPWH, 30million in cash? We can offer you armored truck with armed-to-kill security!”
“Nah, no need, we got plenty of suitcases and seven SUVs to transport the money”
DPWH to Senate & Congressional Crooks: “Bossing, we have the money”
Crooks: “Good! Excellent! I’m at BGC. Give it to Pedro”
They drove to BGC in gleaming huge American SUVs filled with suitcases filled with crispy money
They drove up to a BGC hotel. Looked for Pedro. Pedro carted off the suitcases and DPWH off they go.
In publicize investigation Lacson asked, “who do you gave it to?”
Answer: “Pedro”.
Question: “Pedro who?”
Answer: “eh, sabi ni Senator Crook ibigay lang daw ni Pedro”
They are hotshot DPWH supremo and they just give it to somebody with no last names? INCREDIBLE
By the way, I read Philippine news not to be informed but to be entertained. It does not make my blood boil. I laugh. Because laughter is the best medicine
I too laugh but I still bother to get bothered. Thanks
forensic can make the dead talk, and that’s accountability. latest I heard, the family of usec dpwh cabral has acquiesced and cabral’s body, if it is indeed her body, is to undergo autopsy. her fingerprint will be compared with what’s on record, her dna taken and matched against familials. toxicology taken too, and will be matched vs her previous medical history. just because the driver said it was cabral dead down the cliff does not necessarily meant it was indeed cabral.
worse, the high ranking police officials who attended the death scene did not secure the area and the area got contaminated. also, cabral’s gadgets and phone were returned to the family when those should have been kept in police custody for further studies. it is not surprising therefore that the officials were relieved of their duties for apparent gross incompetence.
apparently cabral has been with dpwh for 40yrs and most likely knew what goes behind the scene as regards who’s who in dpwh ‘s ghost projects. ping lacson was positive cabral was cooperative and willing to talk. whether her death was accidental or not, we will soon find out via autopsy.
in philippines, we have cases of people being dead, but resurfaced later under new identity.
Inept Blue Ribbon & ICC should have secured all communication devices from suspects including corruption enabler, COA auditors. It will take another Marcos SONA to investigate COA for conveniently not catching DPWH shenanigans and media that buried news of Engr Calalo-1st District Leviste-Loren Legarda.
Leviste is the son of Loren Legarda. Staff of Loren Legarda asked Calalo to meet with Leviste. Allegedly Leviste “tried” to bribe son of Legarda, Leviste. All quiet in 1st District front. Why?
sabi mo, Allegedly Leviste “tried” to bribe son of Legarda, Leviste. you mean leviste tried to bribe himself?
Remember all the human rights abuses during martial law? Over 3,000 killed. Over 30,000 tortured. Over 100,000 arrested without due process. All of this happened while the dictators family enriched themselves.
Where is the accountability?
I understand if you don’t want to discuss this since there are some Marcos fanboys here.
We will never forget. I am a military brat but I am a 70s kid and lucky to have teachers to enlighten me early on martial law but it only happened post Ninoy assasination.
https://www.benarnews.org/english/news/philippine/Marcos-rights-victims-05062019143656.html
victims of makoy’s martial law were compensated, they won class lawsuit filed in hawaii. it is on public record.
Good catch!
thanks.
Pleasure.
I wrote this a few years ago.
https://joeam.com/2021/02/22/35-years-after-people-power/
If Leni would not run, is Risa Hontiveros acceptable to you personally?
What is a Marcos fanboy? That’s social media nonsense, and a striking refusal to grant respect to people. One does not have to be a fanboy to see that closing POGOs was a good act, and sending Duterte off to the ICC was the best way to handle a mass murderer, and building international relations is good for the economy and defense, and building a modern AFP with modern weapons is a good thing, and forming the ICI was ingenious, and there are sound cabinet appointments, and respect for the Constitution is what we got instead of a dictator. Only haters would not have the capacity to see, and say, these things.
I would add that Junior is not a torturer or mass murderer, nor would you expect Sara Duterte to send her father to the ICC. So put some reality into the picture you paint. All Junior has done is play politics, use the law to advantage, and listen to reasonable people around him rather than spout spiteful nonsense that would make things worse not better. Finally, Leni does not want to lead the nation from all indications, and if you find that upsetting, no need to run around spouting insults at people who have moved on. Y’know, realists, not meme-writers.
ahem, there are lotsa marcos fan boys in america, proof? it is on public record that majority of overseas filipino voters voted for bong marcos last presidential election 2022.
filipino voters chose marcos over leni. and unlike americans, we filipinos accepted the majority votes albeit grudgingly, and did not try to take over the palace like what trump supporters did at capitol hill after trump lost to biden in 2018. despite what has been said about us, we have decorum.
OFWs are hard to figure out. I think their thinkin’ is stinkin’. Filipino US citizens like Trump, one of the most bizarre miscalculations I’ve ever witnessed. They don’t like abortions but are okay with rapists. They’d sneer at a good Catholic Biden and back an insane heathen. It boggles my mind.
“ahem, there are lotsa marcos fan boys in america,..” – Kasambahay
Some 25 years ago, I was in the same room with a nun from the Philippines. She was working for the Diocese and I was told that she was a Canon lawyer (the bulk of her work, I was told, was dealing with marriage annulments). I overheard her say “I am not Filipino. I am Ilocano.” That is part of the problem that holds the Philippines back.
it is different now, the marcos family is divided, the brother’s faction and the sister’s faction, imee marcos vs bong marcos, and the twain shall never meet again. bong marcos said he can no longer recognise imee as sister, uberly emotive on calling him cocaine addict right at iglesia ni kristo gathering in luneta which was televised nationwide! imee seems keener to trip her brother and destabilize his presidency in favor of sara duterte.
Funny, Trump ordered blowing up Venezuelan boats he alleged to carry narcotics twice. Survivors? Tough luck. He hijacked Venezuelan tanker just because it is sailing to a sanctioned country. No one dared report Trump to interpol and drag him to ICC. Trump copied Duterte playbook whereas the author is languishing in ICC jail.
ICI was not a stroke of genius. BBM knew Blue Ribbon is a joke. BBM cannot allow crooks to investigate crooks.
Here lies the problem in the Philippines, Filipino policemen cannot enforce traffic unless there is a “smooth traffic” operation that is the only time policemen can pull over drivers for traffic violation without consequences. Same is true with BBM’s SONA on DPWH ghost & substandard projects had he not.
BBM SONA opened cans of crooks from Senators to congressmen down to Presidential Chief of staff. COA got off easy. COA is now auditing projects just recently and reporting, “voila, we found a school of fish!”. And the banks that encashed DPWH checks? Naaah …
If “investigators”, like ICI & Blue Ribbon do not go after COA and the banks the likes of DPWH worms will slither out of the cans this time it will be a den of snakes
That is an accurate description of the way things work in the Philippines and other corrupt states like Russia and the US. We can call it systemic, or the way things work. And we can agree that it hurts Filipino voters. The challenge for those who care, which you obviously do, is how to get voters to change their thinking because it is their thinking that props up the system.
As for the ICI, it is like the spout of a tea pot that whistles when it lets off pressure, thus preventing the pot from exploding. President Marcos prevented the collapse of government, and if that is not genius, then it was at least artfully done. I personally think corruption can be dealt with best through a functioning government. But, yes, a total collapse is another way, a painful way, and we don’t know what would come out the other side. Probable a corrupt dictatorship or military-run state.
The problem is not in the seeing of impunity, it is removing it when the powerful run the system and like the impunity.
your kausap, joeam, is summat ignoramus, pardon me!
your kausap said, No one dared report Trump to interpol and drag him to ICC.
your kausap does not seem to know that united states is not member country and did not sign rome statute, hence it is not answerable to ICC.
though, any member country who is signatory to rome statute and whose citizens been harmed by trump’s policy (e.g. immig policy) can file a case with ICC. if they so dare, and face higher tariff yet again!
The US is corrupt, just like Russia. PH captures the gold though, lol.
“What is a Marcos fanboy? That’s social media nonsense…” I know what he meant, and I agree with him. The context is the earlier part of his sentence: “I understand if you don’t want to discuss this…”
An anti-Marcos person would naturally want to disparage a person who might speak well of President Marcos so I would expect you to agree with the disparagement. I have no trouble at all speaking about the pros and cons of the President’s work and am amused that “haters” do not wish to do that. They would rather attach the label “fanboy” to those who would recognize good work to suggest the assessment is merely being a “fanboy” so their remarks are irrelevant. It’s typical social media sloppy conniving argument, lacking the dignity of honorable straight talk.
Not sure what you are talking about, Joe. The fellow (Let Leni Lead) had a point. Did you discuss it? It was even related to the subject of Karl’s essay: Accountability. He made sure to mention it so it would not be missed. Here it is again: >>Remember all the human rights abuses during martial law? Over 3,000 killed. Over 30,000 tortured. Over 100,000 arrested without due process. All of this happened while the dictator’s family enriched themselves.
Where is the accountability?
I understand if you don’t want to discuss this since there are some Marcos fanboys here.<<
If you did not discuss it, well then maybe he was right because he predicted that. You claim you are open to discussing pros and cons. Well this fellow brought up a "con." Why not take him up on it, especially since it is related to the issue of Accountability.
You don't like the label "fanboy." Do you think he likes the label "hater?"
BTW, I am interested in the fellow's issue and would like to hear from folks here about it: "Where is the accountability?" Opposing views welcome!
My view on the Marcos Presidency considers only the Marcos Presidency, not the acts and abuses of the father, which belong to the father. The charges against the son on tax evasion and not returning stolen wealth are wrapped up in legal processes that I’ve not studied. The son was not arrested in the US when ostensibly he could have been because the US recognizes that it would infringe on Philippine sovereign rights to arrest their President. Similarly, I believe it is better to have a stable presidency that has some pending legal issues than to throw the nation into turmoil by impeaching the President over those complex legal processes. He is the President. How is he doing as President.
The “hater” label was used intentionally by me as an ad hominem response to being wrongly, needlessly, and maliciously called a fanboy for not signing onto complaints about accountability for the Marcos family.
There are three compartments. (1) the father’s proven crimes, (2) the son’s proven and alleged crimes, and (3) the son’s work as President of the Philippines. I’m mainly concerned about (3), as a matter separate from (1) and (2). If you or Let Leni Lead wish to detail (1) and (2) and can outline a course of action that is not disruptive to Philippine well-being, then make the proposal and we can discuss it. But leave off the ad hominems. And you won’t receive them in kind.
You are in moderation because you cannot grasp that I, as a writer and blog editor, am not proper content for discussion. It is long winded ad hominem comments from you that need to be stopped. Discus the Marcos family, fine. Focus on the Philippines and Filipinos. Terrific. Discuss accountability in real terms, not as a basis for name-calling.
“My view on the Marcos Presidency considers only the Marcos Presidency, not the acts and abuses of the father, which belong to the father.” – JoeAm
Great…but others in the forum may have other views, they may go beyond the Marcos presidency to other areas in Philippine history, AND they may be relevant to the subject of Accountability.
Just my thought on the subject. I like to hear diverse points of view, a personal preference.
As I said, you, or others, are welcome to propose steps by which the Marcos family can be held accountable, more-so than has been done so far. My view is that the running of the Philippines in a stable way is a precondition for recommended steps.
good lord! my personal preference is the runaway bride sherra de juan, gone awol four days before her wedding day; currently doing the rounds in social media. polis sabi after their investigation that sherra may have emotional distress and financial problems that both her wannabe hubby and her own father vehemently denied. kaya pala, tumakbo si poor sherra, no one listened to what concerns her. her father and wannabe hubby seemed to be dismissive of her.
If she has not met foul play, and runaway on her own accord, I say good girl! never enter into marriage if conditions are not right.
“My view on the Marcos Presidency considers only the Marcos Presidency, not the acts and abuses of the father, which belong to the father.” – JoeAm
I read “Let Leni Lead’s” point as the record of the Philippines and its holding the Marcos, Sr. regime accountable, not anybody’s view on the Marcos Presidency, although we know the view of Let Leni and we know your view too. We’re looking at two different things. You’re looking at the performance of an individual in office. But the point of Let Leni (as I saw it) is a critique of the system. It’s not about judging the son for the father; it’s about the fact that our government institutions are so weak that they allow the powerful to bypass accountability entirely. Whether it’s the 203B tax issue or the recovery of ill-gotten wealth, the ‘real picture’ is a government that hasn’t yet proven it can actually hold ‘big fish’ crooks accountable. Until that system is fixed, every presidency—Marcos or otherwise—operates under the shadow of that failure.
I agree the “system” is dysfunctional, and with justice (police, courts, audit) being weak, it is unable to hold the crooks and incompetents accountable for their abuses. Plus the self-dealing seems to be a personality trait of many people who gain power. They lack the motivation to truly serve others. There are good people, Leni among the best, but the level of apparent theft among legislators and LGU heads suggests their lack of patriotic zeal is real and substantial. Leni appears to lack that patriotic zeal as well, although she is unquestionably proactive at serving the nation and, today, Naga City.
Thanks KB.
>>Corruption is not an individual failure; it is an ecosystem. It thrives where rules are loose, oversight is weak, and the political cost of abuse is low. Real accountability means building systems that make corruption difficult: clear laws, transparent procurement, real-time audit trails, independent oversight, and protection for whistleblowers.<< Good point, Karl
Unless you already have, would you like to address the role of people in this ecosystem? I think that is critical. I believe that good people can make a bad system work, and bad people can make a good system work.
Contagioousness of both good and bad.
If only power does not corrupt for that to happen, Integrity must go togetger with power on top of great power equas great responsobilility.
ahem, get real, cv! we know all about accountability! have you come across our topmost lawyers and judges, they are enablers of the mostest kuraps, and cost more than an arm and a leg to hire. the yumaong juan ponce enrile, lived so long up to 100yrs, life must be uber good for him and crime does pay very well, was out on bail for pork scam. regardless, bong marcos has hired enrile as legal adviser. now, bong marcos just have to find another very good lawyer to be legal adviser. already bong marcos hired atty larry gadon as adviser to the poor, rarely heard and rarely seen. that should keep gadon out of mischief.
and yes, we are very good in protecting whistleblowers. like the one that brought duterte down. once duterte’s henchman, he is kept safe and ready to stand as eye witness vs duterte in the hague.
poor senator bato, accountable only to himself and has gone hiding. he played a key rule in ejks that resulted in the deaths of hundreds, the man of the hour trying hard to be invisible. even though ICC has not yet issued warrant for his arrest.
true our oversight is weak, but we have ways! our courts of law can barely bring duterte to justice, but we have another arbiter, a much stronger one, and that is ICC.
“good people can make a bad system work, and bad people can make a good system work.”
————–
Good governance means to observe and follow the rules/regulations and those rules can also be enhanced for better result via legislation .
Therefor : Good people = good governance, bad people means not good.
An observation from a guy who can’t distinguish the trees from the forrest.
Thanks, Istambay…yeah, I meant to say “bad people can make a good system NOT work.” While it is best to have good people AND a good system, one must be careful when deciding to blame the system when it is really the people.
PNoy did blame the system, bulok na systema said he. blaming the bent but very rich and powerful people summat cause his party to lose votes and influence. making people honest enough to pay their fair amount of taxes rocked boats so hard that PNoy’s liberal party got marked down for failure. though PNoy’s BIR chief kim henares was onto something new and creative: giving acknowledgement to the nation’s top taxpayers and publicly thanking them. many were against it due to apparent confidentiality breaches. but those that paid tax diligently did not oppose summat, those who were skimping were opposed, huffing and puffing. they were mostly the nation’s top earners yet paid little taxes.
para sa akin, so long as govt agencies meet their aim and goal, it may not be heaven, but good enough. like weed eradication, after clearing, some weeds will always sprout.
“PNoy did blame the system, bulok na systema said he.” – Kasambahay
Good points, Kasambahay….I like your analogy regarding “weeds” hehehe With respect to PNoy (good people?) criticizing a bad system and trying to make it a better if not good system, that is what good people do. The goal is not one or the other (good people or good system). It is both. But good people needs to come first because bad people and ruin a good system, but good people can make a bad system work AND then improve it hopefully until it becomes a good system.
too many kinks to iron out, and porbida, who has the patience to do it! show a good person a bad system, and they are likely to become convert, aha! this is how it is done! might as well try it!
we have many good people that turned over to the dark side and become bad people. e.g. harry roque, once a dedicated human rights lawyer, now fugitive from justice. his crime? allegedly coddling pogos and getting rich from payolas.
unlike recyclables, bad system should be purged, the ugly duckling cannot turn into a swan.
“show a good person a bad system, and they are likely to become convert, aha! this is how it is done! might as well try it!” – Kasambahay
I agree. And I can speak from my own experience. Growing up in the Philippines, I was taught that corruption was the way things worked. As such, when I was almost old enough to get a driver’s license, my first choice was to get it illegally, through a “fixer” it was called back then. I did not even give the legal way a chance!
Tell me, what you think of this statement:
>>Structures cannot create civic virtue. They can only test whether enough of it already exists. When enough good people value the system and are willing to suffer for it, even a bad structure can be bent toward good. When they don’t, even a good structure becomes hollow.<<
Civic virtue is akin to the patriotic zeal that I mentioned is missing in the Philippines, even to an extent with Leni Rovredo. Zeal is more action oriented than virtue, of which there is a lot in the Philippines. But zeal, not so much of that. Rooting for sports is more virtue than zeal. Playing the sports can be zeal, or it can be self enrichment, or a mix. I like the quote’s reference to a good structure becoming hollow if there are not enough good people to manage it properly. I think of the US right now as being hollow. The Philippines is neither a good nor a bad structure but about equal parts of each. There are not enough virtuous people with the zeal to lead toward comprehensive goodness, in my view. I think of the business community that has capable, honest people but they have no interest in running the country, only leaning on regulators for advantage. Or the Catholic community, rich with virtue but not enough zeal to vote for integrity of character.
“There are not enough virtuous people with the zeal to lead toward comprehensive goodness, in my view.” – JoeAm
Yeah, I think you are right….but you are in a better position to see that than I am. In case you didn’t know, one of Rizal’s big frustrations with our people as he zealously pursued better conditions for the Philippines was what he described in us as “silence and apathy.”
That fits, too. I suppose 300 years of subjugation would lead most to worry more about their own circumstance than try to go against overweening power and get, well . . . shot.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, KB!