“That is why they depend on political dynasties for their existence”
WHY is there so much graft and corruption in government, a problem that doesn’t seem to end, despite the fact that the people have been crying out for an end to graft and corruption?
In the first place, Santa Banana, while graft and corruption are mostly in government offices where the heads were either elected or appointed by Malacanang.
The reason for this, my gulay, is that some people run for public office, not because they truly want to serve the people, but to end up as millionaires or multi-millionaires.
Take the case of a simple mayor running for public office. In Metro Manila, for instance, it takes about 5Million to 10Million pesos to run for mayor,except those who are already multimillionaires.
A neophyte cannot afford that much to spend for running as mayor.
Either he has some benefactors or contributors or that he is being supported by some people with ulterior motives behind them to get contracts or services or to control some aspects of government.
That is why there is so much graft and corruption in government. It is because public executives want to make money or they run just for other purposes, like becoming popular or for people to remember their names.
That is why in my years as a journalist I found out the reason why some people run for public office. It is either to make money, as I said, or to help, not the people, but themselves and their relatives.
It is for this reason why I am glad that Senate President Francis Escudero has filed a bill which would ban public executives and their relatives within the fourth degree of consanguinity from being involved in government contracts and services.
This bill might not entirely erase graft and corruption, but it will help minimize its commission.
A mayor can easily make a lot of money while in office.
For every road to be constructed and bridge that has to be built and any government building to be erected within his jurisdiction, he makes lots of money by getting percentages.
That is the reason many roads , bridges and other public infrastructure have not been completed or that they have not been continued because of graft and corruption. And the reason for this, Santa Banana, is that, if a mayor gets elected, the people who voted for him expect something in return.
It is for this reason why the bill of Senate President Francis Escudero would help a lot to minimize the commission of graft and corruption.
I am not talking only of mayors. I am talking about governors or any public official appointed to an office.
People expect a lot in return for voting for them.
It is a vicious cycle because of poverty.
By banning all public officials and their relatives up to the fourth degree of consanguinity from getting involved in contracts and services would minimize a lot about the cycle of graft and corruption.
In the final analysis, I do not expect,in my experience as a journalist for over seven decades, that graft and corruption, with the kind of government we have, will ever end, unlike for instance in a communist run government which has no election at all.
I am not saying here in this column, Santa Banana, that our kind of democracy is less beneficial for the country than a communist form of government. T
ake for instance Vietnam, which is still under communist rule. In a survey conducted,
Vietnam has become the most progressive South East Asian country because of the difference between a democracy and a communist run form of government.
In the higher echelon of government, like congressmen, there are a thousand and one ways of making money. It is for this reason that while the constitution bans the existence of political dynasties, they continue proliferating in the country.
One reason of course is that the people who will vote against the constitutional ban are either members of that dynasty themselves.
It is for this reason why I have advocated the bill banning members of political dynasties running for public office or being appointed in government.
Graft and corruption is of course embedded in every democracy, especially the Philippines where the people suffer from extreme poverty.
That is why they depend on political dynasties for their existence.
Graft and corruption? We have to live with it, but we can minimize it through the bill that will be passed by the Senate banning all govt executives and their kin up to the fourth degree of consanguinity from being involved in government contracts and services.
