President Aquino and his Cabinet are really bent on making 2012 the defining year of his presidency. Not only have they set up for the kill all the hurdles, perceived or otherwise, to their “reform agenda”; they have slowly but surely fleshed out the contents of that agenda.

Yes, Sir. None of those nebulous, motherhood statements beloved of every new administration. What they have is a bold, measurable plan which is presumably the foundation of what he and his Liberal Party/Akbayan loyalists claim as the golden age of Philippine politics -- their 12-year presidency’ starting 2010.

So, we take their word for it and hope for our people’s sake that they will deliver not just the blows on their “hit list” of the so-called mistakes of the past and the corresponding scapegoats but on their principal anti-corruption plank.         We hope that like Budget Secretary Butch Abad who appears to be the point man for this “game-changing” operations, we will soon see a sea change not just in the attitude of our people but on the actual incidence of graft and corruption, if not plunder, across the board.         As Abad claims, the administration’s anti-corruption “road map” is such that we should expect billions of pesos in public funds which have actually been pilfered, pillaged, and plundered either through direct bribery or through onerous contracts by those manning the bureaucracy from the lowliest offices to the highest ones will now be saved and used properly and responsibly.

We will soon see, for example, if Abad’s central payrolling system will not go the way of the multi-billion-peso pilferage of the conditional cash transfer program. I have only one wish though. Before we get inveigled into the hifalutin operations beloved of Abad and company, may I request him, his boss, and his Cabienel colleagues to start with the more visible graft-ridden operations first. Say, jueteng, loteng, and all the other illegal numbers game which, we understand, has become even more widespread and bolder since P. Noy took office 18 months ago.    

We can start with the data on such operations submitted by no less than the anti-jueteng monitors headed by Archbishop Oscar Cruz. The good bishop has been shouting for months on end that jueteng has come back with a vengeance just a month or so after P. Noy ordered an all-out war against it right after he took his oath.

What happened to Cruz’ submission, kaya? I am sure P. Noy and his boys have a handle on such operations, especially in the jueteng-rich Regions 1, 3, 4, and NCR. I am sure P. Noy, the PNP and, of course, the PCSO are aware of these operations since they are supposed to have made its eradication a key plank of this anti-corruption agenda.

If they have no idea or have been blinded somehow by unavailing reports from the field, they may want to check out the names of the reported operators in these regions.

I am sure they know that a certain “Ayong R.” and “Ivan T” are the ground commanders of Region 3’s most famous headman.

I am also sure that they know who this “Don Ramon” is or “Akong” or “Tony R.” and “Rafael” or “Ato” or “Wendel” who reportedly form  the “working commission” for Region 4. In case these names have escaped their “nets”, perhaps they can ask for the real identities  of the following: “Totoy H.” (San Pablo), ‘Ruby” (Balayan), “Carling M.” (Lipa), “Amy” (Imus), “Efren/Rico” (Dasmarinas), “Tita/Anton” (Calamba/Cabuyao),  “Vic/Joleng” (Los Banos/Liliw), “Walis/Edna” (Amadeo), “Pedring/Mike” (Candelaria).

This is just a sample list of what is being reported at ground level. So, please, Sirs, if we are to get things onthe right and hit the ground running on this anti-corruption thing, let’s start with the most common and verifiable set -- the massive jueteng and illegal numbers games played out nationwide.

Otherwise, all the other promises will only serve as cover up for our ineffectiveness. PLEASE LANG.