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Crisis Of Public TrustAna Marie Pamintuan (The Philippine Star) | Updated October 14, 2013 - 12:00am

Becauseofthenationsfailuretosendanybigfishtoprisonforcorruption,acommoncomment

abouttheporkbarrelscandalisthatwhenallthehuffingandpuffingisover,nolawmakerwill

endupbehindbars.

Ontopofthecynicismisagraveerosionofpublictrustthat,ifallowedtofester,couldfurther

complicategovernance ina nation that hasbeen described asungovernable. There arevalid

fearsthatthecrisisofpublictrustmayeroderecenteconomicgains.

In a democracy there is a social contract: citizens contribute earnings to a common fund

administeredbythestate,withthepolicymakersfreelyanddirectlyelectedbythepeople.

Taxpayersinourcasealmostanyonewithspendingpowertrustthatthesepublicofficials

havethecompetenceandintegritytocarryouttheirduties.

With this trust comes a presumption of regularity in government. In countries where the

governmentenjoysacomfortablelevelofpublictrust,certainmeasurescanbeimplementedfor

nationalsecurityorpublicsafety,whichinourcountrywillbeseenasthreatstocivilliberties.

In Singapore, for example, police are allowed to take the statement of a crime suspect

immediatelyuponhisarrestandbeforehegetsalawyer,andthestatementisadmissibleas

evidence.Thereasonbehinditisthatoncethelawyersgetintothepicture,asuspectcanbe

taughttolie.

Opinion(ArticleMRec),pagematch:1,sectionmatch:1

The presumption of regularity underpins the allotment of billions of pesos in public funds

annually to our elected officials including the president, to be utilized at their discretion.

Regularity is also presumed in the allocation of intelligence funds to law enforcement and

nationalsecurityagencies,whichareexemptfromnormalauditingaprocurementlaws.

Inrecentyears,allthreebranchesofgovernmenthavebeenstainedatthehighestlevels.These

days,with public trust deemed tobe sobrazenlybetrayed, everyaspect of governance has

becomesuspect.

It is hoped that thepublicdistrust has itsupside:people aremore vigilant, andgovernment

workersmoreawareoftheirresponsibilitytousepublicfundsjudiciously.Safeguardsarebeing

introducedtopreventthemisuseofpublicfundsandabuseofpower.

Apossibledownsideisthatthosesafeguardswilldegenerateintolayersofredtapethatwill

meaninefficiencyinthedeliveryofbasicservicesandopenmoreopportunitiesforgraft.