“Will the arrest and imprisonment of those implicated in anomalies stop corruption?”
Following many investigations related to the accountability and responsibility of government people to the public, in an effort to stop the cycle of corruption, the question remains, will the arrest and imprisonment of those implicated in anomalies stop corruption?
Santa Banana, the problem is not so much the insatiable greed of people committing anomalies and enriching themselves, but I believe the fault lies also in the kind of system we have.
Yes, we have Constitutional mandates on the accountability and responsibility of people in government.
But more than the accountability and responsibility of those handling the funds and money of the people in the Appropriations Act, I believe the system is also largely responsible.
The corrupt who have the opportunity to steal from the people will take the advantage of the opportunity, like people in government who are involved in projects where they can make money will never stop.
This is the reason why I believe that more than the opportunity of people in government to steal government funds, it is the kind of system we have in government.
The problem, however, is that I would not exchange the democratic system we live in with another system, like a dictatorship, my gulay!
We have gone through a dictatorship when the late father of President Bongbong Marcos declared Martial Law and we have known people in power take advantage of the opportunity to commit crimes, not only against the government, but against the people themselves.
This I think, Santa Banana, is the problem above everything else, in this country where despite the fact that the Constitution demands accountability for those handling the money of the people, stealing and committing anomalies is rampant.
The question then is what should be done?
I have my own thoughts about the problem, but I think more than anything else, our government leaders should get together and find out ways and means to stop rampant corruption, especially in government projects, like flood control, wherein those responsible commit rampant anomalies.
I should frame a Constitution that answers this problem.
I am just a lawyer and journalist but I believe, more than anything else, there is a need for government leaders and business leaders to get together and frame a system to end rampant corruption.
I believe it is only with the cooperation of government and business leaders that this big problem can be solved.
There is nothing like a kind of a summit meeting of government and business leaders to find out ways and means to end rampant corruption. In my over 70 years as a journalist, the biggest problem of this country, aside from the endemic problem of poverty, is corruption.
Unless this problem of corruption is ended, the Philippines will remain a Third World country, as it is today.
We know of countries, like neighbors around us – Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam – that have become progressive countries where they don’t have problems of rampant corruption.
Perhaps, I believe, there must be ways and means of ending rampant corruption.
If those countries can do it, why can’t we?
I am not suggesting we set up the kind of government that Vietnam has or Singapore has, or that Malaysia has, but if they can do it why cant we.
I am hopeful that in spite of what is happening in our country, there must be some ways and means that our government and business leaders can come up with to get rid of corruption.
It can be done.
I believe there is still hope for this country to become as progressive as other countries around us. If they can do it, why not the Philippines?
