I grew up within the a part of Paco close to the boundary with Pandacan. My Dad and I take the Pandacan bus going to Echague in Quiapo the place I board a JD bus to UP Diliman whereas my Dad takes a jeepney going to Dapitan that passes by UST the place he was a professor of Drugs.
Typically, attention-grabbing conversations crop up on the Pandacan bus. One time, the driving force was loudly proclaiming the hopelessness of Filipinos. We should always all be annihilated by an atomic bomb, he mentioned, as a result of we’re hopeless.
Perhaps what pissed him off was a regular encounter with visitors cops along with his conductor paying “tribute.” Road-based corruption or kotongan is a standard each day incidence but it surely most likely was stepping into his system and he wanted to voice out his frustration.
Corruption had been within the headlines currently and there have been expressions of shock on the sum of money being stolen within the Nice DPWH Flood Management Theft. Folks knew that corruption existed however had been dumbfounded by the systematic plunder by congressmen, senators, contractors, DPWH district engineers.
We took it with no consideration that the standard of public works tasks is low as a result of follow of sharing a finances allocation. It began with 20 % being divided “by the boys” however now, BBM came upon there’s a prevalence of ghost tasks which implies one hundred pc of a finances allocation is shared by the crooks with nothing left for the mission.
So, BBM faces the problem of coping with large corruption. Is he as much as it? Are we inherently corrupt as a individuals? Some sociologists hint that again to colonial instances.
Raymund Narag, a PhD, posted on Fb what he referred to as the Catechism of Corruption. It reads like a tongue-in-cheek information for anybody sleazy sufficient to wade within the mud of corruption at DPWH.
“If you happen to bid on authorities tasks on this nation, don’t even dream of providing the true price. In case your mission is price P10 million, you quote P100 million. Why? As a result of the price of doing enterprise right here isn’t cement or gravel — it’s grease.
“The politician who sourced the funds takes his minimize. The company that administers the funds takes its minimize. And inside each company lurks a whole ecosystem: the one who disburses, the one who accounts, the one who audits, the one who screens. Miss even one and all of the sudden your paperwork have ‘technical defects.’
“A lacking signature right here, an incomplete type there. And similar to that, they’ve discovered the proper authorized foundation to disqualify you. Even when you someway win, they’ll sit in your funds. No launch, no progress, till you be taught to cough up.
“So, you grease. At each step, you grease. You shake arms with everybody. You make ambon for the janitor, the guard, the driving force, the clerk. As a result of they know. And you have to show you’re a ‘crew participant,’ that you know the way to play the sport…
“In case you are a contractor, keep invisible. Huwag kang lumutang. Don’t name out corruption. Don’t increase your voice. That’s their diskarte. Naunahan ka lang. You’ll have your flip subsequent time. Panapanahon lang iyan.
“And don’t be grasping. Don’t hoard the blessings. Share them. Donate to church buildings, to colleges, to barangays. Pampabawas ng kasalanan. And when watchdogs come sniffing, blind them. Suhulan mo. As a result of watchdogs on this nation aren’t actually watchdogs — they’re stray canines sniffing for scraps. Feed them they usually’ll go quiet…
“That is the catechism of corruption. Narratives whispered and repeated, handed down like heirlooms. Youngsters hear them on the dinner desk. Nephews see them modeled by uncles. Nieces be taught them from aunties.
“Grandchildren develop up on them, till they themselves run for workplace. Till they arrange their very own occasion–lists. Till they fund their campaigns with the loot of tasks. Till they win, and all of the sudden wield regulatory management over budgets…
“Social studying concept says it finest: corruption is realized. The justifications are realized. The methods are realized. The extra you’re uncovered to them, the extra you follow them, the extra pure they grow to be. Till you, too, are instructing them to the subsequent era…”
There are a number of extra paragraphs in Narag’s Fb publish. These ought to simply seek for his Fb wall.
The true drawback is how society idolizes anybody with some huge cash no matter how wealth was obtained. We are able to see that in a few of the influencers in social media. Even Julius thought the Discayas had been inspiring.
Pasig Mayor Vico Sotto is spot on when he urged the general public to “problem the tradition” of admiring ostentatious shows of wealth by public officers and kinfolk of contractors, stressing that such habits is “robust proof” of how corruption has been normalized within the nation.
And corruption pervades even non-public companies. A 2024 NUS Enterprise Faculty survey monitoring the highest 50 publicly listed firms in 5 nations (Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand) assessed anti-corruption disclosure efficiency:
Common disclosure rating declined from 69 % (2022) to 64 % (2024). Thailand led at 80 %, adopted by Malaysia (75 %), Singapore (63 %).
The Philippines noticed the most important drop to 55 %. No marvel the expansion of our inventory market is stunted. It took the SEC to behave on the extreme valuation being claimed by a outstanding situation. A lot for the toothless self-governing PSE.
Randy David sums up our drawback: “Corruption is rampant in our establishments, but many individuals fail to acknowledge it as such. To them, giving preferential therapy to kinfolk, shut mates, or political allies, or taking bribes or kickbacks so one can have cash to help the needy, just isn’t corruption — it’s merely a part of the system. Those that perceive the scenario however have given up hope for a greater society might generally shrug and say, “It’s what it’s.”
Boo Chanco’s e-mail handle is [email protected]. Comply with him on X @boochanco