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Four Corners – Aiding or Abetting (1983)

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Original classification rating: PG. This clip chosen to be G

Clip description

In 1983 Australia’s largest overseas aid project is centred on the Philippines. It’s called PADAP and it’s a shared project between Australian technological know-how and the Philippine Government. The aid money is being spent on roadworks in one particular province but in this world of abject poverty and venal corruption, money from the project is sticking to the fingers of Philippine officials.

Curator’s notes

by Janet Bell

It’s a shame the lessons from this story were not well enough absorbed by Australia to prevent the more recent Australian Wheat Board scandal in Iraq. The issue as ever is how to do business with a corrupt regime without becoming corrupted in the process.

Teacher’s notes

provided by The Le@rning FederationEducation Services Australia

This clip from 1983 shows footage of a road construction project in Zamboanga del Sur on the island of Mindanao that was jointly funded by the Australian and Philippine governments, and alleges that money for the project has been misappropriated by Philippine officials. Geoff Anderson, an Australian road engineer working on the project, says that although Australian aid dollars are being used appropriately the same cannot be said for Philippine funds. Over footage of construction vehicles journalist Mary Delahunty describes the project and the nature of the corruption.

Educational value points

  • The clip alleges that aid money targeted for a road-building program in a poor Philippine province was misappropriated by local officials and raises questions about the governance of large aid projects. Part of a bilaterally funded project with the Australian Government, the road construction component was managed through the Philippine Ministry of Public Works and Highways at a time when corrupt practices on the part of Philippine bureaucrats were widespread.
  • The Philippine–Australian Development Assistance Project (PADAP), referred to in this clip, was partly managed by AusAID and ran in two phases between 1974 and 1985. The PADAP included road construction, agricultural development, irrigation and water supply projects in the province of Zamboanga del Sur on Mindanao. The road construction component involved the creation of feeder roads to provide land access to towns within the province.
  • The island of Mindanao was chosen as a recipient region for aid due to its high level of rural poverty. The reasons for the poverty included a lack of development in rural infrastructure, inequality in the distribution of land and income, poor productivity, high population growth and inadequate social services such as education and health. The building of new roads was undertaken to allow greater trade and infrastructure access to rural communities.
  • AusAID’s Project Completion Report (1985) gave two main reasons for the failure of the road construction aspect of the PADAP. Firstly, at the time a Muslim separatist movement, the Moro National Liberation Front, was engaged in armed struggles and as a result roads in dangerous areas were left incomplete. Secondly, the PADAP was implemented under the ‘trickle down’ theory of development, later discredited, in which large infrastructure projects are undertaken that, however, do not support local community projects.
  • Mary Delahunty (1951–) won two awards for the Four Corners program Aiding or Abetting from which this clip was taken – the 1983 Gold Walkley Award and the Best TV Current Affairs Report Walkley Award. Delahunty worked as a presenter and journalist for the ABC news in Victoria, for the 7.30 Report and for Four Corners, where larger budgets and more time allowed the deep inquiry into issues that is the hallmark of good investigative reporting.