The expression originates from the good advice to be cautious in foreseeable circumstances – sometimes in the face of unforeseen events that may occur –. From driving caution, “you must carry an umbrella, just in case of rain,” or “always carry some cash, in case of vehicle damage,” to the greatest risk, “take precautions, just in case of an attack.”

But its usage is deformed to mean knowingly doing things that shouldn’t be done, not being “accidentally” revealed.

And that even when there are those who come to the point that nothing matters to them, as is the case with the one who refers to “that my partner doesn’t cheat on me; but if he deceives me, let me not know; And if someone, damn it, tells me, I don’t really care”.

In the last week of April 2023, it was announced that the Chief State Comptroller found irregularities in the recruitment of personnel in the National Assembly. From January 2021 to August 2022, from the review of 196 contracts, in 188 files the contracted parties did not describe in detail the activities they will implement and their training; in most cases this was not compatible with the responsibilities to be assumed. In addition, in the files of the servers in charge of creating and approving reports on the admission of personnel – the officials who had to review the documents and finally take the tests – did not meet the formal requirements of training and experience. The investigation concludes with the indication that personnel would be associated with the subject without filling out the necessary profiles and without accompanying documentation.

Has this never happened before? This is indeed a repeated practice, which is growing in the Parliament and in other areas of public administration and management, and it will continue to be the case if the published information, which leads only to scandalization and sanctions, is not passed.

Its use has been deformed towards the sense of knowingly doing things that should not be done, “accidentally” not being discovered.

In works and services, tenders or offers, such as cleaning in health centers, are often rigged: it is the same interested bidders, with different masks and costumes. In addition, the number of prestanumbers is increasing. Conditions have been added that are intended to prevent bidders outside of the established bidders from agreeing. The cleaning contracts state that part of the conflict at IESS’s Teodoro Maldonado Carbo Hospital, in the south of Guayaquil, was over the provision of this service, a conflict that would be behind the murder – last March 2023 – of Nathaly López, its financial administrative director, who tried to bring order.

There are multiple cases of sexual harassment. The affected person sometimes likes it not to be known, so as not to be the subject of ridicule. The recent case of a Member of Parliament who would have linked the possibility of working in the Assembly to an intimate relationship, whether it was rape, as it is called, or just going to a hostel by “consensus” (?), which argues those who claim that this Member of Parliament set him up , it is an example of nothing happening “by chance”. This is not the first case, nor will it be the last, but nothing justifies this form of “demand” or “invitation” for sex. (OR)