BY GERARD M. NAVAL

BATAAN Bishop Socrates Villegas yesterday said corruption has gone from bad to worse and expressed fears that this might spark widespread unrest that characterized the waning years of the Marcos regime.

Villegas recalled that the people vigorously fought the "conjugal dictatorship" of the Marcoses some 30 years ago over the same issue of massive corruption.

Villegas served as secretary of the late Manila Archbishop Cardinal Jaime Sin for 15 years, most of them during the Marcos years. He was acknowledged as the cardinal’s liaison to groups which stood at the forefront of the resistance to the Marcos government.

Villegas said a repeat of the 1980s unrest may not be far behind as the "shadow of corruption perennially haunts the Arroyo couple."

"Thirty years ago, we coined the term ‘conjugal dictatorship’ referring to the martial law President and his wife. In those days, we rallied and protested against crony families and fought the family political dynasties. The reasons for our social discontent 30 years ago have resurrected," Villegas said in his "Reflection" for feast of St. Joseph on March 19.

The 48-year-old prelate said the gravity of the current state of corruption has already bred cynicism among the public.

"Only the insensitive and the pretentious will say that the problem is getting sufficient solution or that graft and corruption is lesser now than last year. Many of us feel the problem has become so systemic and overwhelming that we have gotten paralyzed, simply drifting away into cynicism. We have doomed ourselves to this pitiful situation, feeling like walking through a dark tunnel with no light of hope in sight," Villegas said.

He said President Arroyo and husband Jose Miguel or Mike have been repeatedly linked to corruption scandals, including the national broadband network, fertilizer funds, the Macapagal Boulevard project and the North and South Rail projects.

The Arroyos have repeatedly denied all accusations, saying that these were politically motivated and that their opponents were taking advantage of these to gain political leverage.

San Juan City Mayor Joseph Victor "JV" Ejercito dared President Arroyo and her family to sign a bank waiver allowing inspection of their assets before and after they took office.

Ejercito’s father, former President Joseph Estrada, earlier expressed willingness to sign a similar waiver as proposed by former anti-graft commissioner Nicasio Conti.

Conti said transparency of the financial holdings of officials is one way of checking graft and corruption.

Estrada also challenged all presidential aspirants in 2010 to sign such a waiver.

"I think they should include and start with the Arroyos who have been there in the Palace for more than eight years," Ejercito said. Conti, through his Business for Integrity and Stability of Our Nation (BISYON 2020) group, said he will also challenge all presidential, vice presidential, senatorial and congressional aspirants in the 2010 elections to sign a bank waiver.

Villegas said it is hard to believe that every accusation against the Arroyos is just fictional and baseless.

"The shadow of corruption perennially haunts the President and her husband. Can all the accusations be purely politically motivated without any grain of truth?" he asked. "The singular trademark of graft and corruption in the Philippines, it seems to me, is that our type of corruption is family based! Corruption is done through the family, with the family and in the family… The corruption syndicate is either a husband-and-wife partnership or a father-and-son connivance or a whole family in cahoots."

Villegas appealed to the people to go back to the basics to combat the social cancer that he said is corruption.

"We need to start praying again in the family. We cannot just dismiss the time-tested wisdom of Fr. Patrick Peyton that the family that prays together stays together. When a family prays, they stay together with God," Villegas said.

"Believe me, when fear of God is brought back to the family, we will be a better nation. When a sense of honor and dignity returns to the home, we will be able to bounce back to moral uprightness," he added.

Gabriela party list Rep. Luzviminda Ilagan said another "People Power" to oust the Arroyos is possible but only if a turning point is reached and if civil society is able to muster the numbers.