Ateneo de Davao University

Social Science Cluster

Political Science and History Department
GE 1210: Readings in Philippine History

A Country Cultured of Corruption

A Final Summative Assessment
Synthesis Paper

Submitted to:
MARIA JANUA P. CUNANAN, MA
Professor
Readings in Philippine History

ETHEL MARREN M. GUERRA

ECE-1A Student
Readings in Philippine History (11:10 – 12:40 AM TTH)

January 2021

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Introduction

“Corruption is a cancer: a cancer that eats away a citizen’s faith in

democracy, diminishes the instinct for innovation and creativity” – Joe Biden
(Remarks By vice President Joe Biden to Romanian Civil Society Groups and
Students, 2014)

Corruption is a disease that has long since existed at the beginning of

history, affecting every nook and cranny of the society we live in and the system
that governs us. It takes two primary forms- grand and petit- and occurs in the
vast catalog such as extortion, bribery, nepotism, fraud, and many more. Grand
corruption refers to a large scale of corruption, while Petit corruption refers to a
small scale (What Are Some Types of Corruption?, 2020). In Philippine history, it is
still unknown what the true origin of corruption is- whether corruption is innate,
developed, or hereditary- no one knows for sure. Nonetheless, according to Alfarsi
(2016), he claimed that corruption is the outcome of the acquired colonial
identity brought forth way back throughout the colonization period of our
country, precisely during the first colonization- the Spanish. Hence, many adapted
this behavioral disposition as a survival and self-preservation method due to
exposure to domination and exploitation. This human adaptation then led to
continuous abuse of both power and authority, which later became a practice
of many succeeding officials and rulers up to this day. For many believe that
circumstances entailed them to commit such acts to live and prosper (All Power
Tends to Corrupt, 2011) synonymous to the principle adapted by the majority
which is 'survival among the fittest.' Similarly, in an interview with Former President
Benigno Aquino III, BBC News questioned him whether corruption is a custom in
the Philippine administration. The former president answered that it is not
necessarily a practice but rather entailed by circumstances such as the
constituents' demands and negligence of those who form moral values in the

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society (BBC NEWS , 2014). However, to what extent does this apply? Were there
any changes in society as centuries, decades, years, and days passed? Did it
lead to prosperity and survival? All of these pointed out to one question, "What
becomes of the country cultured of corruption?”

As corruption continues to remain not only in the Philippines' system but in

the whole world, there are debates of whether the nature of corruption really is
purely evil or that despite how it seems, it is justifiable and calls for the situation
(ABP NEWS, 2015). Therefore, this paper intends to discuss, mainly, the three
identified major impacts in the Philippines as it continues to exist in the system,
society, and citizens. In order to bring us closer to our history and raise awareness
of the reality and true nature of corruption. For it remains a complex
phenomenon, as stated by Cameron (2016), that continues to prevail and lies at
the very core of the most urgent dilemmas we face even at this pandemic
moment.

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Discussions

There are three identified significant impacts persist as an outcome of

repeatedly committing corruption of distinguished individuals and even regular
citizens since long before establishing the Philippine government and its
independence (Schimmel, 2015). The first impact focuses on the economy, while
the other two focus on social impacts. Along with these are concrete examples,
such as current issues and fragments of our past that continue to affects us and
leave a mark in our history.

The first impact of corruption is that it withholds the country's ability, the
Philippines, to progress and develop caused by the constraints in the resources-
both natural and monetary- of the government and the people. Some critics
claims that corruption does not purely hampers economic growth because it
compensates to institutional loopholes and red tapes such as lack of support to
specific areas and groups in need (Chêne, 2014). However, it is undeniable that
due to the malversation of the public resources, prominently in the monetary
resources, by the officials and employees, the government becomes
compromised and cannot fully support programs and provide an adequate
number of provisions and assistance allocated for the citizens (Abrugar, 2014). A
concrete example is the tributo, a required monetary payment established during
the Spanish colonial period (Bandongen, 2011), is a practice adopted by the
Philippine government even today known as taxation. It serves as the monetary
resource of the government to raise revenues and economic development of the
country (Benedict, 2019). Nevertheless, Filipinos faced deprivation
of Tributo's benefits due to tax collectors and officials' abuses, such as collecting
unreasonably high taxes and using the monetary resources of the government for
pleasure and selfish agendas. As a result, this problem slowed the progress in both
the lives and livelihood of the Filipinos and the development of the country

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despite some improvements that only Spaniards were able to fully experienced
and benefitted (Badongen, 2011). In connection to this is a similar issue regarding
the misuse of the government funds- the fraud and corruption scandal of the
Philippine Health Insurance Corporation or PhilHealth. Wherein last August 2020,
PhilHealth faced allegation for the corruption of estimated P150 billion pesos of
funds from 2013 to 2018 with questionable purchases, allotment, reimbursement
of the money (Nonato, Romero, & Romero, 2020), and manipulation of submitted
financial statements (ABS-CBN, 2020) subjected for further trial, and resulted to
discontent and exasperation of many Filipinos. Indeed, both establishment
of tributo and PhilHealth was for the development of the country and the
assistance of the public. Nonetheless, it brings light to the officials' corruption of
the public resources for personal gains that led to the increase in poverty and
prospering of crimes for survival, such as compromising to unlawful acts by
ineffectively enforcing laws of the officials. Both occurred in different timeline, but
the impact remains the same. These sum up why is the progress of the country is
deterring.

Another impact of corruption is the prevalence of inequality that also stems

from the abuse of authority and power for self-interest politically and socially. It
limits the opportunities and disregards deserving qualifications of individuals,
which significantly affects the overall advancement of the country. In the political
aspect, unjustifiable and uneven distribution of power among politicians and
officials is infamous and has been part of our history ever since (Tell it to SunStar:
Our Toxic Political Culture, 2020). It is because distinguished people incorporate
the principle of bias and partiality in their works. To further illustrate this, politicians
and officials tend to shift power distribution by politically appointing and
promoting people, either family or close friends. This kind of system is called
the Padrino System that revolves around bilateral kinship, often forming a

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benefactor-client relationship (Payumo, Marquicias, & Fernandez, 2014), a
pervasive tradition among officials and political families in the Philippines.
Examples of these political families are the Aquino-Cojuangco family in Tarlac,
the Binay family in Makati, and the Duterte family in Davao. Although this will be
beneficial if those who pursue this system aims to serve the people; but in reality,
this will result in becoming the main route for corruption and abuse of authority
(CSC Reminds Gov’t Officials: Avoid Nepotism, July). In contrast to this, according
to Yeung (2019), Padrino system and nepotism are beneficial because it speeds
up creation and operations of the project, and securing and continuing promised
goals of politicians. Nevertheless, the prevalence of inequality will lead to an
evident social gap that will influence those in need to compromise with those in
power, demoralizing in the bureaucracy, and killing the initiative of the people to
excel (Pearse, 2020).

Lastly, the third impact of corruption is the mistrust of the public towards the
administration that resulted from the unscrupulous governance of officials
(Dimant, 2017). In other words, caused by denying the citizens of their
fundamental social rights guaranteed by the constitution or the law, the people
become skeptical about whether to trust the words of the officials and character
or hope for the future of the country. An example of this situation is the Polo y
Servicio or also known as forced labor. Polo y Servicio is a system implemented
during the Spanish colonial period that forced Filipinos and Mestizos to work
without payments and become widely subjected to discrimination and poverty
(Rey, 2020). Realizing that only the Spaniards and their cahoots benefitted from
this, the Filipinos and Mestizos became discontented and mistrusted the
government and fellow citizens who sided with the Spaniards. As a result, these
propel to fight and raised revolutions against the Spanish government that
continued for years (Down, 2019). Another example of corruption that caused
mistrust to the citizens, one of the very famous, is regime of Ferdinand Marcos.

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According to Balisacan (2018), it is inevitable that regime of Ferdinand Marcos will
go down in history, for it is the root of the mistrust of the Filipinos to the government.
In which the most controversial issue that reigned during regime of Marcos is both
the plunder of the economy of the Philippines and his ill-gotten wealth that
gained not only the whole country but the whole world’s attention. Moreover, it
is the part of our history, the very evidence of the impact of corruption on lives of
the Filipinos and how the Filipinos tried to regain their rights. Based on the two
situations, what links them both despite not in the same timeline is that the note
for how essential trust works in holding the ideals of the people not as an individual
but as a country. Trust is crucial as the foundation of every country (Michael, 2016),
and the Philippines is not an exception. As opposed to this idea, Wise (2016) said,
“Corruption is not a problem in its own right, but rather a symptom of wide
problems of governance in some states.” In which because of their lack of ability
to sustain and protect themselves, the poor and ordinary people become highly
dependent on officials or those in power and give them the incentives to exploit
their authority. Consequently, having a give-and-take-relationship such as paying
money to high officials to protect their businesses from impending harm. However,
corruption puts a rift between the people. It breaks the trust that usually results in
undesirable conflicts and often takes the form of the citizens' insurrection against
the government. Therefore, with mistrust between the citizens and the
government due to corruption, it is right to claim that the foundation of the
country crumble and that corruption destroys everything including relationships
that exists long before.

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Conclusion

"What becomes of a country cultured of corruption?" The answer is simple.

Despite no concrete explanation of corruption's origin, it is evident that it leads to
prosperity and survival only for those who benefitted from it, while the majority
and the succeeding generations will suffer and carry the weight of the betrayal
in place for those who corrupted. Furthermore, history has shown us how
corruption is repeated in similar concepts or situations as it is cultured in our system
and continues to exist—clearly showing corruption becoming a primary variable
in negatively impacting the people, economically and socially, as a result
(International Monetary Fund, 2017). For it leads to the country's fall by cutting its
growth and progress, killing the morale of the citizens, rotting the value of 'for the
common good' and making a mockery of the democracy through violating the
citizens' rights and freedom to experience the privileges bestowed upon each
one of us.

There is no extent to the leniency given to corruption, for in the first-place,

corruption is unacceptable and should not be indulged. It is because the truth is
that no matter what justification or explanation is given, corruption is evil and
corrosive. After all, its true nature lies within selfishness, dishonesty, and wickedness
that consumes a person's dignity as a human being. Therefore, I conclude that
corruption should be uprooted and eradicated from the system of the Philippines
and our society.

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Recommendations

As stated by Georgios Papandreou, "Unfortunately, corruption is

widespread in government agencies and public enterprises." For corruption has
been long since existing in the Philippine system and negatively affects this
country's citizens. Nevertheless, it does not imply that it is permanently rooted in
the Philippine culture and cannot be restrained from further thriving in the system.
It also does not insinuate that our society cannot undergo reformation. In a
previous interview with President Rodrigo Duterte, he mentioned that in fighting
corruption, we could be of help by being assertive of our rights as citizens of this
country (Rappler, 2017). It emphasizes that even as citizens, to solve corruption is
to have an awareness of its existence and firmly to have zero-tolerance and
clemency towards it. In which having the will to find solutions and address the
problem will be a step towards resolving this issue. It paves the way to create and
promote a culture of integrity by fostering and advancing comprehensive
education to the next generation and treating individuals with respect, dignity,
fairness, and objectivity. However, to successfully achieve and maintain the
integrity culture, it is crucial to establish a demand for accountability from political
leaders, private sectors, and civil servants, especially during the pandemic and
the incoming political transition. With this, it does not only lessen the possibilities of
corruption but also serve as bridge for trust and justice to the people that
continues to suffer and will suffer from its effect.

Addressing corruption to its very core might take years, or even decades.
Nonetheless, putting the country and the common good as a shared priority
makes it possible to solve, if not, mitigate, corruption until it ceases to exist in our
Philippine system. Thus, keeping and empowering this principle to push forward
will enable us to save and reform our country cultured of corruption to a country
for the people and cultured of patriotism, respect, and love for it.

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