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When I was in Jakarta as labor attaché from 1982 to
1985, I had had many occasions to attend parties with Filipino and
Indonesian friends. In one such party, I heard distinctly from a
nearby table the spirited discussion between a fellow Pinoy and an
Indonesian national about corruption in their countries.
The Filipino was saying that
corruption in the Philippines had reached such a degree to make the
Filipino people ashamed of themselves. To which, the Indonesian
replied: “You are better off. There, you do it [corruption] under
the table. Here, we do it on the table.”
The situation seems to have
changed over the years. Filipinos may now say that corruption in
their country is worse than in Indonesia—it is done not only “on
the table” but with even greater audacity.
This is borne out by the latest
World Bank study of the degree of corruption in 212 countries it had
surveyed. It showed that the Philippines is last in the rankings of
East Asian countries least able to control corruption, replacing
Indonesia at the bottom as revealed in an earlier survey.
In previous surveys by
international management groups, such as the Switzerland-based
Institute for Management Development and the Hong Kong-based
Political and Economic Risk Consultancy, the Philippines was No. 1
in the list of the most corrupt Asian countries.
On Monday’s late-night talk
show, Harapan, hosted by Korina Sanchez and Ted Failon, the anatomy
of corruption in the Philippines was dissected with administration
officials and government critics as resource persons. Among the
guests were UP professors Popoy de Vera and Harry Roque; Dr. Anthony
Golez, Malacañang deputy spokesman; and Renato Reyes, a staunch
advocate against corruption de Vera presented a fine analysis of why
corruption flourishes in our country.
Corruption, he said, thrives here
because the social and political environment not only allows but
also even abets it. When a government official thinks he can gain
something by committing a wrong but with a little chance of being
caught, he goes right ahead, he explained.
Top leaders involved
That seems to be the situation
today. There is government permissiveness, the corrupt think they
are untouchables, the justice system grinds slowly, and there is
selective prosecution of cases and some top leaders themselves are
involved.
Golez had a hard time defending
the administration. He said that while proper steps had been taken
by the government to minimize corruption, the general public seemed
not to appreciate such efforts.
Roque charged that many
high-profile cases involving millions of pesos have grown whiskers
in some government drawers, waiting to be filed with the appropriate
courts. He said that if there is no respect for some government
offices, it is because they don’t deserve it. Respect for our
public institutions is earned, not imposed, he stressed.
There is now a brewing
controversy over the supposed reward of P500 million to officials
and employees of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) for “exceeding”
revenue collection in 2006. Customs Commissioner Napoleon Morales
got P5 million of the amount while hundreds of bureau executives and
employees split the rest.
The reward was anchored on the
attrition law, which allows a prize to BOC personnel for meeting a
collection target but metes out penalties to those who fail to make
it.
Morales himself was said to have
taken the initiative of applying the law “without a proper
basis.”
Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile called on
the Department of Justice to investigate the case, saying that a
charge of malversation of public against the customs officials
involved might be apt. He pointed out that the bureau had exceeded
its collection in 2006 but this was because of advance tax payments
made by oil companies.
The Bureau of Internal Revenue
had also increased its revenue collection by accepting advance tax
payments but refrained from rewarding itself with that “bonus”
under the attrition law, according to Enrile.
Rampant smuggling
As chief of office, Morales
should have been more circumspect about applying the law, especially
if he has no sufficient ground for doing it. If he has to show any
high performance (for which he should win a reward), it should be in
the government’s war against smuggling rather than on revenue
collection, which can increase by itself the natural way.
Smuggling is rampant in almost
all ports of entry, depriving the government of billions of pesos in
taxes. At the recent Senate hearing on smuggling, Morales failed to
answer questions on why there are low duties levied on motor
vehicles brought in by foreign assemblers.
Sen. Francis Escudero said the
vehicles could have been intended for rich buyers and should have
been levied higher duties.
agr0324@yahoo.com.
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