[Rappler’s Best] Unintended consequences 

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'A hidden casualty in today’s global crisis is our collective anger in the aftermath of last year’s flood control corruption scandal'

It did happen. After 16 years in power, Hungary’s far-right leader — and Donald Trump’s role model — was ousted in a much awaited election for democracy watchers. Viktor Orban lost to a center-right politician who is expected to temper Hungary’s adversarial relations with the European Union.

But back to our immediate reality.

A hidden casualty in today’s global crisis is our collective anger in the aftermath of last year’s flood control corruption scandal — the passions it has ignited, the actions it has galvanized, the hard questions it dared us to ask. 

Things have been moving in court, to be sure. But as missiles are fired in the Gulf and our basic supplies are choked, watching the testimonies against some of the biggest suspects in the scandal is — to some Filipinos — akin to seeing the embers of a dying romance. 

So perhaps we need to light a spark once more by way of attention. 

• Last week we launched the CorruptionWatch chat room in the Rappler app, which allows the public to report suspected corruption in their communities. This used to be the #FloodControlPH chat room that fueled some of our biggest investigations into how elected officials fattened their pockets and families through huge government contracts that were either substandard or non-existent. Here’s how to use the CorruptionWatch chat room.
• While resigned congressman Zaldy Co remains at large, government prosecutors have presented to the anti-graft court two arguments for his conviction in a graft and malversation case: that he received close to a billion in bank deposits from Sunwest, a construction company owned by his family; and that he is its beneficial owner, serving as a contractor in huge but allegedly anomalous government flood control contracts.
• Dismissed public works engineer Brice Hernandez was tagged in court by a contractor as the recipient of at least P1.72 billion from her — on top of an allegation that he had borrowed her license to secure 42 projects from the government. 
• A flood control project in Bulacan facilitated by former senator Bong Revilla turned out to have been barely started even if it was declared 95% complete in just 21 days. Read more.
• Core to the corruption scandal is government’s unfettered allocation of “unprogrammed funds” in the national budget, especially under the Marcos administration. The Supreme Court held its first round of oral arguments on the matter, with economist Winnie Monsod warning that the practice weakens transparency and strengthens discretionary spending.

Then there’s also the near-forgotten impeachment complaints filed against Vice President Sara Duterte. She had asked the Supreme Court to stop the impeachment hearings against her at the House of Representatives, but failed to get relief. Hearings resume on Tuesday, April 14.

Duterte is seeking the Court’s intervention to once more nullify the complaints against her. Dwight de Leon writes that the Vice President is rehashing arguments she made last year — which she won.

The rest of the world, meanwhile, continues to be on fire — forcing our farmers to abandon their harvests, putting in peril close to 6,000 Filipino seafarers still stranded at the Gulf, trapping over 100 Philippine vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, unmasking systemic gaps in social welfare that delay access to ayuda whether from government or citizens’ groups, among others.

But crisis, as we now know, creates opportunities.

• Is climate survival the surprise win in this war? Mark Hertsgaard and Kyle Pope present their case in this Thought Leaders piece ahead of the First International Conference on the Just Transition Away from Fossil Fuels in Colombia on April 28 and 29.
• A surge in local demand for solar energy is real, with solar panel installers finding themselves rejecting clients or making them wait. Iya Gozum tells us more.
• Shay Du brings us to Camiguin, an island province in Mindanao where solar panels can be found anywhere, both big and small. The road to solar energy, though, has not been all rosy, as Shay shows in this report.
• The energy crisis reminds us of our leaders’ lack of foresight, given our inherent vulnerabilities and the fragile security environment in our oil source. But better late than never? The government must now prioritize the plan for a strategic petroleum reserve. Read more.

For despite the gloom and doom, we can still aim for the moon. Humans, in fact, just traveled to the moon for the first time in over half a century, and the four-member crew of Artemis II is now safely back on Earth. 

Here are some of Rappler’s bests that you shouldn’t miss:

In this piece, Isagani de Castro Jr. asks: how can we create ripples of hope? He cites challenges spawned by the crisis that can be the springboard for positive initiatives.

Lian Buan reports on a banking trojan scam that can control your device from a remote location — and in this case, has been traced to scam hubs in Cambodia.

Val Villanueva tells us why companies are turning away from the Philippine Stock Exchange as a source of capital.

Delfin Dioquino profiles Kat Borlongan, the Filipina tech leader who was knighted with the Order of Merit in France.

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– Rappler.com

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