Would I be overstating it if I said the Philippines seems to have lost its moral underpinnings?

What brought this thought to mind (again) was the rapid exoneration of three Filipino contractors who?d been blacklisted by the World Bank. The congressmen not only found them innocent of anything the World Bank had accused them of, it attacked the World Bank even intimating its decision was done capriciously and without due process. The World Bank? The World Bank spends years investigating any allegations of irregularity before it would say there?s collusion by the firms. In fact, as far back as November 2007, the organization had already notified the Department of Finance, Department of Public Works and Highways and the Office of the Ombudsman about the irregularity going on in the project biddings. Yet nothing was done. The congressmen had two hearings and no investigation. They didn?t even invite the Bank?s officials to those brief hearings. They just took the word of the contractors, as though that word wouldn?t be full of self-protecting interest.

Do they seriously expect us to believe them? The World Bank is a highly-respected, fully-independent organization that acts with extreme care when commenting on actions in a sovereign nation. It would not have taken such a drastic action without very convincing proof. I am quite sure of this, and so would anyone else who knows the workings of the Bank.

Similarly, John Resado who issued a release order for three suspected drug dealers coincidentally on the same day his bank account was credited with P800,000, said the amount came from the liquidation of all his business transactions for his lending and grocery business in Tarlac. Quite a coincidence, but it?s the statement ?I did not declare my income from the money-lending business because it is part of the informal economy? that got me because it was accepted as being quite normal. Maybe we should all join the informal sector and watch the government collapse as it goes bankrupt financially as well as morally.

And where is the Church in all this? Where?s the moral outrage they should be expressing, that members of its flock that they?ve nurtured from childhood should be acting so much against Christ?s teachings? Why is it so silent?

At least there?s one area where the public is expressing its outrage, and that?s the citizens of Eastern Samar who are complaining bitterly over the collapse of roads built only a mere four years ago but are now impassable. There?s no question corruption had much to do with it, cheating on the materials used. Good for them (the Samarians, not the contractors), and I hope the government is listening. More importantly, if it acts swiftly to effect repairs. And maybe, just maybe, sue the contractors for shoddy, sub-standard work.

Interestingly, some of the road construction in Samar was done by the very same companies the World Bank blacklisted and Congress declared innocent. E.C. de Luna Construction was the winner of the bidding Package 3 of Maharlika Highway?s Calbayog-Tizon road stretch while the Tacloban-Calbigo road section is still under warranty bond by Cavite Indeal International Construction and Development Corp.

Have we become so callous that 19 deaths are considered as nothing (one newspaper says it?s actually 26 if deaths from malaria from mosquitoes in the shipyard are included)? According to reports, these workers have died building ships for Hanjin, yet I?ve seen no government action to prosecute management. Or order the company to greatly upgrade their safety systems and procedures and treat the area to kill mosquitoes despite the existence of products to do just that, for just a few thousand pesos. Hanjin might have brought in much-needed investment and thousands of jobs but none of it is worth a human life. I thought the cutting down of more than 300 trees for a casino and hotel complex in a forested area already showed a management that cared little for this country and protecting its few surviving forests, then I read about the deaths.

I?ve seen no outcry against these preventive deaths. In any other country the company would have been closed down until safety systems were vastly improved?after one death. Must we wait for 20 to die or is it 100 before this government reacts?

Since I wrote this, I was horrified to read yesterday the headline in this paper. ?Palace: go easy on Hanjin.? ?Foreign investors are very important to our economy. It is important that we should treat our foreign investors fairly so that we can attract more of them.? ?No one will invest here if we pressure them too much and push them to the wall,? Cerge Remonde apparently said. I think he doesn?t understand foreign investors. I do, and respectable foreign investors, the kind we want, will be more deterred by a government that treats human life so cavalierly than one that sweeps human deaths under the rug to protect a few dollars.

But I agree it?s not the role of the Senate to investigate, there are enough laws to protect workers. It is the role of Department of Labor and Employment to conduct an investigation and to demand a change of management, even closure of the yard, if they can?t protect Filipino lives. Government inspectors should be assigned full time to monitor this callous company.

This is a government that has also allowed Sulpicio Lines to keep sailing despite 45 maritime incidents (in the past 28 years) resulting in 5,700 people either dead or forever missing. Has Philippine life become so cheap that a few deaths caused by uncaring management no longer matters? It would certainly seem so. My driver lost his wife because the callous hospital would not do a blood transfusion until they received P1,600. I rushed it to him?too late, she was dead.

That is the value of a Philippine life: P1,600. What value does Hanjin or Sulpicio put on the life of a Filipino? You don?t put a cost on a human life, but they apparently do.

I agree with National Economic and Development Authority. It?s crazy to be laying off government workers now. Here we are in the midst of the worst crisis we?ve ever seen, with a government promising to do everything possible to protect jobs, and to provide jobs, and to offer lifeline assistance to those without jobs?then it wants to fire its own workers. Crazy.

The rationalization of all government offices made eminent sense in 2004 when it was first conceived, it makes absolutely no sense in 2009 when the world is a far different place. Incidentally, did you note the dates: 2004 to 2009. It took five years just to get started to rationalize. If this was a business, the business would have failed by now. The CEO of a company in the private sector would have the heads of some people for such failure. There would have been a deadline?maybe five months (not years) in this case?and the deadline would have been met because the CEO?s managers would all be professionals trained and experienced in their jobs and cognizant of the importance of acting in time.

The real national hero is not Manny Pacquiao, it?s Wesley So, the 15-year-old chess grandmaster. What a magnificent feat?I?ll pick brains over brawn anytime. Which is not to denigrate Manny?s success but to point out how much attention he gets versus how little Wesley does. Mind you, my dad was world bridge champion and my uncle world chess champion so I?m a bit biased, but nonetheless Wesley deserves a red carpet too.

By the way, will we now need to go barefoot to any meeting with a country leader now two shoes have been thrown?

Comments to my columns can be sent to plw@mydestiny.net