WE ALL know that elections, which come every three years in the Philippines, are a great source of entertainment. We watch girls in bikinis gyrating onstage to attract crowds before the candidates speak. We applaud when we see candidates dancing and clowning around to catch the attention of the crowd.
We also listen to candidates make promises which they do not intend to keep. It’s the moon and the stars, a paradise, waiting for Filipinos if they get elected.
But what are we witnessing now with the likes of Manuel Roxas II and Rodrigo Duterte challenging each other to a slapping contest, boxing and even a gun duel? They have both gone down to the gutter!
We may be amused, but this is no laughing matter. And they tell us they can give us paradise in 2016?
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President Aquino makes a big thing out of his alleged reforms to fight corruption. He cites Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno and Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales, both of whom are his appointees, who are supposedly at the forefront of this fight.
Reforms, my foot! In more than five years of the Aquino administration, I have never seen so much graft and corruption in my life with no less than BS Aquino III bribing both chambers of Congress with pork barrel funds to get what he wants.
It’s hypocritical for the President to claim that his anti-corruption reforms have minimized graft and corruption in government when we all know the contrary.
Corruption is bad because it denies the people the benefits, which they rightfully deserve, from government.
Corruption under the Aquino administration has become such that even the Department of Justice under Secretary Leila de Lima, who is running for the Senate, and Ombudsman Morales, have become the President’s attack dogs. They are always ready to prosecute BS Aquino III’s political enemies while turning a blind eye on the President’s supporters and friends. If the President can claim any legacy, it’s his brand of “selective justice.” He has one set of standards for his political enemies, and another one for his friends.
I can cite a few of the President’s allies who should have been fired a long time ago. Topping my list is Transportation and Communications Secretary “Jun” Abaya with Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala and Social and Welfare Secretary Dinky Soliman not far behind. They have become albatrosses in BS Aquino III’s ship of state.
President Aquino’s relative and very good friend Naia general manager Jose Angel Honrado must also be fired if the President truly believes in his anti-corruption reforms. My gulay, Honrado is so incompetent that he doesn’t even know his job description.
I am certain that President Aquino is aware that the biggest smuggler of them all is the brother-in-law of a Palace official who has become a billionaire many times over. Go to Customs, at the piers, and they will tell you who he is.
Santa Banana, graft and corruption under President Aquino has worsened so much so that it can now be found in all levels of government.
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Can corruption be really eradicated?
I have been a journalist for over 65 years, and I know that every president since the time of “Apo Pidiong” Quirino on to Ramon Magsaysay, Carlos P. Garcia, Diosdado Macapagal, then to 20 years of the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos, and then to Cory Aquino and to Fidel V. Ramos, Joseph Estrada and Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, had at one time or another had their administration accused of graft and corruption.
Quirino, for instance, was accused of having a “golden orinola.” But this was canard. Other presidents were also accused of many things. Estrada was charged and convicted of plunder. However, he was pardoned by former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
My gulay, even the late Cory Aquino was accused of having her “Kamaganak Inc.,” something like the “Kaklase, Kapartido, and Kabarilan” of her son.
We all know that graft and corruption continues in all levels of government, especially at the Bureau of Customs and the Bureau of Internal Revenue. It’s something like people in government wanting to get the most out of their jobs. Strictly speaking, when employees take home pens and pencils and a few sheets of bond paper from their offices, that’s already graft and corruption.
My gulay, even the lowest of government personnel are sent to jail for graft and corruption. But government officials who steal by the millions seem to get away with it.
Even other countries like the United States and China, there is corruption. It all boils down to greed.
I have been asking the same question over and over again. Can corruption ever be stopped? I guess not, not even if we have an angel for a president. It’s part of the system where candidates for president have to spend no less than P3 billion just for the hope of winning.
Santa Banana, where do you think all the money comes from? For candidates with hopes of winning, the funds are from the usual taipans and Chinese contributors. The donors want political favors and patronage. They don’t invest in candidates because they love them. For contributors, it’s always an issue of ROI—return on investment.
It’s actually this vicious cycle that breeds corruption. The people expect every candidate to throw around funds. The masses always expect something from the candidates.
To many of the “masa,” elections are at time for getting something back from candidates they voted for.
There’s also an element of human discretion. At Customs, for example, so long as there’s human discretion in collecting duties, corrupt exists. It’s the same at the BIR when human discretion exists in tax assessments. Even if the system is computerized, there’s still human intervention involved. As they say, “garbage in, garbage out.”
Thus, if you ask me if corruption will ever be eradicated, my answer is that it can be reduced and minimized. But so long as men have feet of clay and born with original sin, there will always be corruption not only in government, but in civil society as well.
I can only quote Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines’ president Archbishop Socrates Villegas when he said that killing, immorality, profanity and obscenity are forms of corruption.
Thus, for the next hundred years, we may as well have to live with corruption so long as we have the same system of government. But, frankly, I’d rather live in a democracy that we live in with all its warts rather than have another form of government which could be worse.