Poverty
and Corruption in the Philippine Bureaucracy
By Jayson
Edward B. San Juan
NEWSPAPER STORIES
of overpriced government projects and public money diverted to personal
accounts are everyday fare for Filipinos. It seems most Filipinos
now concede that corruption is inevitable, owing to its pervasiveness
in the bureaucracy and the seeming laxity of government officials
in curbing its proliferation. It is one of the barriers that stand
in the way of the government's war against poverty.
Professor Syed
Hussein Alatas of the National University of Malaysia noted that
there are three kinds of corruption: graft (illegal appropriation
of public resources for personal interests), nepotism (preferential
treatment given by virtue of blood relation, friendship, or political
association, rather than merit), and bribery (receipt or offering
of valued materials to induce a government official to overlook
his or her public duties). But in whatever form, one thing is certain
-- corruption hampers the government's drive to eradicate poverty
and institute economic development in the country.
Two Sides
of the Coin
Dr. Joel Rocamora, Executive Director of the Institute for
Popular Democracy, names two existing types of corruption. One is
"income side" corruption wherein certain government agencies
and officials use their authority to channel government revenues
to private interests.
Some years ago,
the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) reported
that a syndicate composed of the Bureau of Immigration and Deportation
(BID) employees operates within the BID itself. The syndicate sells
immigration documents to aliens. "For a P50,000 fee, an illegal
alien can buy a set of legal documents that will include a legitimate
Philippine visa, a stamp of arrival bearing a fictitious date, and
an alien certificate of registration (ACR). These papers will bear
the complete signatures of the commissioner and the associates,"
the PCIJ reported. The Office of the Ombudsman ranked the BID the
third most corrupt government agency in 2000.
Such practice
deprives the government of its income, which could have been generated
through proper control and issuance of legal documents. Instead
of the money going to government coffers to fund government programs
and other projects for human development, payments are funneled
into the pockets of a few government officials.
The second type
of government corruption, according to Rocamora, is the "expenditure
side" corruption, which ranges from outright robbery of the
treasury to the more subtle diversion of public funds from government
projects.
An example of
"expenditure side" corruption is the textbook scandal
in the Department of Education, Culture, and Sports (DECS). On January
19, 1999, a certain Mary Ann Maslog attempted to bribe then Budget
Secretary Benjamin Diokno with P3 million to secure a P200-million
textbooks contract with DECS. Investigations linked Celia Ejercito
de Castro, a cousin of former President Joseph Estrada, to the bribery
attempt.
This scam is
one example of how some government officials collude with members
of the private sector, often relatives of higher government officials.
There is an intent to deprive the government of the cost of its
investment: the full contract price will given to the private groups,
but only a fraction of the money is used to buy books. The rest
of the money is lost to corrupt hands.
Where Corruption
Lies
Transparency International, an organization fighting corruption,
says that government corruption widens the gap between the rich
and the poor and "destabilizes societies in social, economic,
and political terms." Corruption saps resources available for
development, lessens access to basic social services of poor communities.
"[Ordinary
men and women often poor and uneducated] soon realise the services
to which they have a right as citizens under the law are denied
them unless money changes hands. Many, not knowing any better, assume
that palm greasing is normal in the context of modem government
administration," said the Transparency International report.
Corrupt practices
also undermine public confidence in the government's will and capacity
to serve the poor, as demonstrated by the Philippine experience
under Estrada. When he overwhelmingly won in 1998 under the auspices
of "Erap para sa Mahirap," Estrada was enjoying the support
of the poor, who had readily identified themselves with the movie
actor. But incidents of corruption involving his own relatives and
close friends eroded his popularity, leading to his impeachment
by Congress in October 2000 and his eventual ouster in January 2001.
Corruption wastes
government funds by channeling money into pockets of a few and away
from projects that help the poor build their lives. As a result
the government has less money to spend on basic social services
like education, health, and poverty eradication. Robbing the coffers
of the Philippine government is robbing the poor of sustenance and
basic services.
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Ang may-akda ay mas kilala sa tawag na SJ.
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