“Let’s radically change our corrupt political system, forthwith!”
CORRUPTION in the Philippines is a system, and like any system, it rests on pillars.
In flood-control and infrastructure projects, corruption has four pillars: contractors, politicians, government officials, and, most painfully, a complacent public.
Every ghost project has a contractor behind it. Private players inflate costs, cut corners, and collude with officials to build infrastructure that is substandard or entirely fictitious.
Contractors thrive because politicians protect them. Legislators design budgets, insert pet projects, and shield their partners.
The recent Senate leadership shakeup is welcome, but reshuffles mean little unless lawmakers stop treating budgets as spoils and begin serving the public interest.
In the ongoing probes, there must be no sacred cows. Complicit Senators and Representatives must be named.
The third pillar is made up of government officials who enable the racket. From project engineers to agency heads, too many sign off on fake documents and manipulate procurement.
The Ombudsman and the judiciary, which should be our last line of defense, have too often failed us.
The fourth pillar is us. Corruption survives because Filipinos tolerate it. Too many shrug it off as inevitable. Dynasties are re-elected despite their record. Voters accept patronage as survival, trading long-term justice for short-term relief.
Outrage fades, silence prevails, and corruption persists.
Yet voices are rising.
The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines recently warned in a pastoral letter that corruption is the real deluge drowning the nation. They call not only for punishment but also for restitution, the return of stolen wealth to the people.
Business leaders have joined the call. Thirty major business groups condemned corruption in infrastructure projects as a “treasonous” act that harms the poor and undermines growth. They demand independent probes, prosecution of the guilty, recovery of stolen funds, and real transparency in public spending.
To dismantle corruption, we must strike at all four pillars: Ban and blacklist cheating contractors. Abolish pork barrel and dismantle dynasties. Punish complicit officials and protect honest ones. Most of all, awaken a citizenry that refuses to tolerate theft and impunity.
Young people are showing the way. Fluent in the digital tools of transparency, they expose corrupt practices. Their protests echo the long tradition of youth activism that has changed this country, starting with the first quarter storm of the 1970s.
We must trust our youth, stand with them, and resist the temptation to silence or dismiss them, like telling them to calm down or criticizing their tactics.
In conversations with Indonesian colleagues, I dare say the Philippines is only a week behind Indonesia and perhaps a month away from Nepal and Bangladesh, where students toppled governments.
I hope our youth and student movements can unify and act together. For that to happen, those of us with historical or ideological baggage must step aside.
Corruption is a wicked problem because it stands on multiple pillars. Yet pillars can fall if the citizenry is united, with the youth leading the way.
But let us be clear: Congressional investigations, independent probes, and the prosecution of officials are not enough.
New budget or procurement rules or stricter anti-graft laws will not suffice either. These reforms, while important, only prune the branches of corruption. They do not pull out the roots.
And the root of the problem is our corrupt political system, dominated by entrenched dynasties who see the national budget as their family treasure chest.
For political families, public office is not service but inheritance.
Budgets are not tools for education, health, or infrastructure, but resources to be divided among allies and cronies. District allocations are treated as entitlements. National agencies become fiefdoms to secure loyalty.
The masterminds and beneficiaries of corruption know how to survive. They will side step and stand aside until the heat of the moment dissipates, and then return to their merry ways, stealing even more.
From the hundreds of thousands of pesos lost in the Countrywide Development Fund to the tens of millions stolen during the PDAF scandals to the billions now at stake, the scale only grows.
Unless we act, trillions may soon be stolen.
Real reform requires nothing less than political transformation, a system where ordinary citizens and the poor, not family empires, shape governance.
Only by breaking the grip of dynasties can we finally drain this swamp and build a politics that serves the people.
Let’s rage against the darkness of corruption and let the light shine through! Let’s radically change our corrupt political system, forthwith!
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