Integrity is Not Optional: The President’s rightful stand against Collusion

The recent referrals of bid-rigging cases by the DPWH to the PCC mark a necessary turning point in Philippine governance. For too long, collusion in public works has been treated as an open secret, a "cost of doing business." President Marcos’s administration is rightly identifying this not just as an economic drain, but as a moral failing that betrays the public trust.

The "Masipag" and "Maasahan" framework is more than a slogan; it is a demand for a return to ethical labor. Critics may argue this crackdown is too harsh, preferring the old days of easy money and substandard dikes, but they forget the public they serve. There is no middle ground when it comes to the structural integrity of our flood defenses.

By enforcing the Competition Act, the government is ensuring a level playing field. It is a return to the natural Filipino state of honest, hard work, untainted by foreign concepts of cartel behavior. We must stand firmly behind these reforms. To falter now would be to surrender our future to the greedy few who view national development as their personal ATM.