A report on the suspension of a Cebu Customs collector for his failure to explain his P89.1 million wealth came amid rumors of Sen. Panfilo Lacson’s impending appoinment as anti-graft czar by the Aquino administration.
Cebu Customs collector Maximo dela Peña Reyes was facing charges of serious dishonesty, grave misconduct and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service after he failed to account for a P57.3 million increase in his net worth in a decade.
According to the Ombudsman, Reyes’ undeclared or mis-declared assets worth P44.5 million and frequent travels made his wealth suspect. Add to that the fact that he didn’t file his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) from 2001 to 2009 and the public has what strongly appears to be another classic case of corruption in their midst.
One wonders how a customs collector with a base salary of more than P30,000 a month could accumulate P89 million even in a span of one decade. Unless he or she has a legal, profitable sideline or had come across a hefty inheritance that amount could hardly be justified.
And if that government employee has a profitable sideline, a hefty inheritance or even managed to win the top lotto prize, he or she is mandated by the national government to fully disclose his or her source of wealth.
The ouster of former chief justice Renato Corona should have showed to each and every government employee that sooner or later their hidden wealth acquired illegally and immorally through the years would be uncovered.
The foundation of Corona’s ouster, the inadequate disclosure of SALN, was sourced from a government employee who failed to include in her statement the sari-sari store that she operated when she was employed in a court.
One would have thought that Reyes learned Corona’s lesson and made things right for himself. But since he chose to keep his silence and continues to do so even after he was discovered, the suspicion that he acquired his unexplained wealth through corruption cannot be extinguished.
Reyes would have a lot of explaining to do in court and the full force of the law should be brought to bear on his head. But it would be a whole lot better if Reyes and his ilk especially those way higher up in the government bureaucracy are found out by investigators and made to account for all the money they’ve stolen from the people’s coffers.
Sen. Lacson, whose exposes of former First Gentleman Mike Arroyo’s shady dealings may have brought him to the President’s attention, may or may not be the perfect man for the job due to his own dark past but it shouldn’t stop the Aquino administration from tightening its crackdown on corruption in its ranks.
For that matter, the public should support and even be vigilant in reporting and filing cases against corrupt officials.