Philippines scam sparks public fury

As netizens, puzzled by the source of her family’s enormous wealth, started digging around for the truth, it became clear that Jeane’s world – Chanel, Gucci and Prada – was not kosher. Indeed, revelations of her lavish lifestyle came just as the Philippine media were unmasking her mother, the controversial businesswoman Janet Lim Napoles, whose alleged criminal activities are essentially a sustained scamming of Filipino government funds thought to involve well over US$228 million.

Poor Jeane! But there again, images of the 23-year-old being chauffeur-driven to a Hollywood film preview whilst dressed in a skin-tight, pink Herve Leger sheath dress, Chanel pumps and a handbag, have turned the young “princess” into a national hate figure.

This should be warning enough for the sons and daughters of the elite lest they be tempted to start flaunting their parent’s ill-gotten wealth.

Janet’s larceny (dubbed a “pork barrel scam”) worked something like this: using a discretionary fund set up by the former President Cory Aquino in 1990 to enable members of Congress and the Senate to fund small-scale infrastructure projects, Janet created “ghost projects” and a web of fake NGOs or private companies that supposedly utilised the funds.

Working with various elected representatives to defraud the Filipino exchequer, Janet then split the ill-gotten gains with her political friends.

Needless to say, those implicated – including both sons of former presidents Marcos and Estrada – have been most indignant in their denials.

The Philippine government has a sorry history of being ripped off by its leaders – from Ferdinand Marcos through to Gloria Arroyo and now countless politicians. Back in 2004, it was alleged that well over $16.5 million was diverted from a fertiliser fund to Arroyo’s election campaign funds.

The Napoles women have become the most prominent symbol of what is wrong with the Philippines politically, where an out-of-touch elite live it up and betray the public trust with impunity as social injustice worsens.

Social media – often accidentally – helps reveal such abuses as well as imbuing them with an immediate, “in-your-face” feel.

Still, the management and oversight of government funds is especially difficult and the Philippines is not alone in experiencing such shameless thievery. In Indonesia, a national sports centre in Hambalang, West Java has become a symbol of corruption as countless ministers and parliamentarians have been brought to trial for their involvement in this vastly over-priced boondoggle – said to have cost Indonesia losses of $41 million.

The  fury over Janet has coincided with the presentation of the annual Magsaysay Award, given by the foundation of the same name. The award, named after the iconic Philippine president, is dubbed the “Asian Nobel”. The prizes seek to “honour persons and organisations as exemplars of selfless leadership, whose lives and work make Asia truly a better place”. The fields honoured include everything from “cooperativism” to youth empowerment.

This year – unsurprisingly – one of the five Magsaysay Awards was made to Indonesia’s Corruption Eradication Commission (or KPK, Komisi Pemberantasan Korupsi).

The award citation outlines the extraordinary powers granted to the KPK, including “exceptional powers that range from investigation and prosecution to prevention and coordination of agencies authorised to combat corruption”.

It can search and seize, freeze assets, impose travel bans, compel cooperation from government agencies and intercept communications without prior judicial approval. Its powers are such that a civic leader remarked, upon the law’s passage, that politicians were “inviting a tiger into their house”.

Indeed, the KPK has never shied away from going after the wealthy and powerful. It has arrested and charged countless politicians. Indeed, the Magsaysay Award Foundation has lauded the 100 per cent conviction rate in the 169 corruption cases the KPK has brought to court. It has also returned to the state coffers some 805.6 billion rupiah ($72.5 million) in recovered assets.

The Philippines and Malaysia could benefit from having such a body around.

Corruption once made Indonesia the laughing stock of Southeast Asia. With independent institutions such as the KPK at work, however, corrupt officials have a very real chance of being caught, charged and sent to prison.