Of Corruption and Cleansing in our Country

Studies on graft and corruption in the Philippines show what are needed to combat corruption in our country. These are the enforcement of anti-corruption laws that already exist, reform in politics, moral reform, leadership in anti-corruption drive, better ways and more resources to ensure transparency and accountability, better public administration, and the need for public involvement in ethics and accountability.

The common finding is that political leadership or political will of leadership plays a crucial role in anti-corruption efforts. Lee Kwan Yu of Singapore used iron discipline to curb corruption and he was successful in doing so. In our country, President Aquino’s earnest goal and openness to curb and eliminate corruption in the government helped in the coming out of the billion-peso pork barrel scam, a corruption that has provoked our outrage, disgust, and collective resolve not to allow this corruption to go on.

Aside from political will, there is a need to reform bureaucratic and political institutions and processes to make them more efficient and corruption-free so as not to invite bribery. This forms part of the external cleansing of the government and Philippine nation. The more crucial requirement to curb corruption in our country is the internal cleansing, which, in the words of researchers and scholars on corruption and governance, refers to moral reform and culture change or mindset shift which involves both the politicians and government officials themselves and the citizens, civil society groups, and the private sector.

The abolition of PDAF is part of the political reform, part of the external cleansing of the government because PDAF engendered patronage politics which smacks of the feudalistic system. The latter is the system by which politicians are looked up to as the patrons of the people, especially the poor, who become the recipients indebted to these politicians whereas the money distributed to the poor, really come from the people’s taxes and not from the pockets of these politicians.

The internal cleansing explained above is required first and foremost of our politicians and government officials who callously used the money entrusted to them from the people’s coffer in any way they want, including giving themselves and their cronies fat commissions from the public funds. Such money actually comes from the nation’s debts from international banks and from the people’s taxes, which come from their sweat, toil, and hard work.

Internal cleansing is required from civilians like business people and the staff of these politicians who selfishly enjoyed kickbacks just by having transactions with these politicians or just by being part of their staff. Internal cleansing for these politicians and their affiliates means cleansing from greed, selfishness, covetousness, too much love for money and comfort, dishonesty, and the corrupted mindset from a feudalistic mindset of patronage politics.

Internal cleansing also means reform of mindset especially of the Filipino masses who vote for officials by virtue of their popularity, charm, or appeal without looking at their political experience or political platforms.

Internal cleansing is required for every Filipino because everyone is born with a corrupted nature, with the tendency to steal and think only of one’s own self. There have been corrupt leaders in the senate and congress, in the Muslim region, and in the government agencies. It is at this point that Christians would say that we cannot do this on our own efforts; we need repentance and cleansing through the blood of Jesus Christ and his grace or divine life to shed off our inborn corrupted nature and exercise the virtues of honesty, righteousness, justice, and ultimately, selflessness.

Buddhists would say they can do these through their own efforts alone as what Buddhist monks and nuns are able to achieve to some degree. However, it shows that they had to remove themselves from the world to do this, but the challenge is to exercise the said virtues while being in the midst of this world.

The moral regeneration movement espoused by some of our politicians and called for by concerned citizens needs both human cooperation and divine help. Corruption can be rooted out from our country through a combination of external and internal cleansing in our nation. One anonymous netizen who commented on a blog about corruption and governance in the country rightly said that everyone has to participate in the cleansing of the nation.

Citizens and civil society groups have to participate in the cleansing in their own lives and by being a vigilant citizenry, while politicians and government officials have a greater responsibility to cleanse their hearts and minds, to change the political processes and to use the people’s hard-earned money genuinely for development and the eradication of poverty among Filipinos.

About the Author: Belinda F. Espiritu is a faculty member of the University of the Philippines Cebu. She holds a Master’s degree in Comparative Literature and a PhD degree in Communication. She would like to hear from the readers about their feedback or comments on her articles through her email address: belinda.espiritu@gmail.com to set a conversation going even after her articles have been published.