Richest, most powerful Pinoys are ‘most corrupt’ – CPP

By Prince Golez

The rich and the powerful gain most in a corrupt system, according to the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).

“Corruption in the country is the business of the richest and most powerful,” they said in a recent statement.

The CPP dismissed the statement of President Rodrigo Duterte that Health Secretary Francisco Duque would not steal from the government because he was already rich as a “gross distortion of the truth and a vain attempt to cover up his corruption and crimes against the people.”

Duque is currently facing an investigation by the Office of the Ombudsman in relation to his agency’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.

The investigators are looking into the alleged overpriced and delayed procurement of personal protective equipment and the delay in the release of the compensation for health workers who died and fell ill from coronavirus.

The richest and most powerful people in the Philippines, the rebel group claimed, are rich and powerful as they either steal from government or accumulate wealth by bribing the government.

“Duterte himself comes from a family of bureaucrat capitalists who aggrandize wealth through state power and privileges, they further said. “They connive with and cultivate cronies among the big bourgeois compradors who pay bribes or extend political and electoral support to whoever is in power in exchange for state franchises and protection, under pain of being subjected to legal and political persecution and property sequestration.”

Under Duterte’s leadership, the CPP likewise said that bureaucratic capitalism has melded with criminal activities such as the smuggling and trafficking of illegal drugs, rice, sugar, and other contraband trades.

“Just as Marcos had the Cojuangcos, Benedictos, Disinis and others, the Duterte regime has its own most-favored big bourgeois compradors including the Villars (whose scion is secretary of the Department of Public Works and Highways, a key agency in the Villars real estate business), Lucio Tan, the Sys, Ramon Ang, Dennis Uy, Razon and so on,” their statement read.

Source: Latest Politics News Today (Politics.com.ph)