PHILIPPINE government officials should be cautious of visits and appearances with public figures as these encounters may be politicized and associated with personal interests, a lawyer and policy analyst said on Thursday.
“Public officials should always be wary of encounters that will compromise their integrity in the eyes of the public,” Michael Henry LI. Yusingco said in a Facebook Messenger chat, following the separate visits made by Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio and House Deputy Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to Iglesia Ni Cristo (INC) executive minister Eduardo V. Manalo on Oct. 2 and Oct. 6, respectively.
“These types of meetings will always make the public suspect that favors and patronage are being arranged,” Mr. Yusingco said.
For Jean S. Encinas-Franco, who teaches political science at the University of the Philippines, the visits “provide good optics [for the two government officials] since we know that the Iglesia has a strong influence on its flock.”
The vice president’s visit happened following weeks of receiving flak over the P125 million in confidential funds spent by her offices in less than two weeks last year. The House of Representatives had stripped the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Department of Education (DepEd), both led by Ms. Duterte-Carpio, of P650 million in confidential funds for next year.
Meanwhile, Ms. Arroyo faced controversies over her removal as senior deputy speaker in May and the filing of graft and malversation charges against her over the Malampaya deal early this month.
Mr. Yusingco said their meetings high-profile individuals like Mr. Manalo “will never be perceived as a ‘harmless visits’” and called their timing “suspicious.” “This harms governance more than it helps it,” he added. — Beatriz Marie D. Cruz
