Now since man is naturally inclined to avoid pain — and since labor is pain in itself — it follows that man will resort to plunder whenever plunder is easier than work. History shows this quite clearly. And under these conditions, neither religion nor morality can stop it.
- 19th century French philosopher-economist Claude-Frederic Bastiat, Liberty’s Greatest Advocate

If we were to compare the development of democracy in the Philippines to that of a person’s development, we could say that we are in the late stages of our adolescence, almost ready to become a young adult. Our nation is maturing, especially in the area of fiscal responsibility. More and more people are checking on how well our public officers are managing the people’s money. We are taking action against public officers who are involved in graft and corruption. I believe that former President Joseph Estrada Ejercito’s plunder conviction is a big statement in our country’s stand against graft and corruption. It sends out a strong message to all our public officials (anyone who works for the government by appointment, election, or work contract) that graft and corruption will no longer be tolerated in the Philippines.

We are beginning to realize that a developing country like the Philippines cannot afford to waste any money. Especially if it’s money that goes into the pockets of public officers who think they can get away with keeping some of the people’s money for themselves.

The government’s money is the people’s money!

In former President Joseph Ejercito Estrada’s State of the Nation Address in 2000, he said that that the World Bank estimates that at least 20 percent of government project funds ends up as kickbacks. This means P2 out of every P10 that we give to our government is wasted because our “public servants” pocket the people’s money.

P2 out of every P10 is small change. It’s like saying we that we asked our katulong (housemaid) to buy suka at the sari-sari store (convenience store). The price of the suka is only P8 but our katulong said it’s P10. It’s small change so we let it go. Then we asked her to buy detergent. She said it’s P100 when in fact it’s only P80. She obviously pocketed the P20. Later that week, we asked her to buy a sack of rice, and she charged us P1,000 when she only bought it for P800. As the numbers get bigger, we feel the burden of the kickback.

P2 out of every P10 is no-joke when we think in terms of millions and billions of pesos. To give an example, let’s say that the World Bank’s study that 20% goes to corruption applies to the Senate and the Congress: A senator gets P200 million a year and a congressman gets P70 million a year in pork barrel funds. 20% of this is P40 million a year per senator and P14 million a year per congressman. Times this by 24 senators and by 237 congressmen and the taxpayers lose P4.278 billion a year. This amount is almost equivalent to the 2007 budget of the Department of Labor and Employment. This money can also be used to build computer labs in over 3,500 public schools.

P2 out of every P10 is big money. We know this now. Just like a young adult who begins to realize the value of money as he learns from his overspending and wastefulness, the Filipino citizenry is coming of age and we are beginning to take punitive action against dishonest public officers who are wasting our money.

The Soft Launch Party: The Midterm Elections 2007

We began our crusade against graft and corruption with a soft-launch party. And what a party it was! It was the midterm elections of 2007. If we take a closer look at the results, we will see that majority of the Filipino people are maturing in one or more of the following ways:

1. We, the people, will support public officials who champion the fight against graft and corruption. Sen. Escudero and Sen. Trillanes were two of the biggest surprise winners in the elections. Sen. Escudero’s claim to fame was that he asked for the truth about Pres Arroyo’s alleged involvement in fraud in the 2004 presidential elections. On the other hand, Sen Trillanes led 321 armed soldiers to stage a protest/mutiny (not a coup d’etat!) in 2003 against graft and corruption in the military and the government*.

2. We, the people, need public officials who are not only popular and personable. We need public officials who are principled, effective and highly-qualified. We have a long list of candidates who thought they could bank on their popularity and money to win the elections. The voters proved them wrong.

3. We, the people, are not in favor of public officials who will push for more taxes on the working class. Ayusin niyo na muna ang sistema niyo ng pangongolekta ng buwis at ang sistema niyo ng pag-gastos ng pera ng taong-bayan bago niyo kami patawan na naman ng mga bagong buwis tulad ng E-VAT. (Fix your system of collecting taxes and streamline your system of allocating and using public funds before you demand more taxes from us). In the special post-election issue of Newsbreak, Ralph Recto admits that he lost because he was highly criticized for being the author of the E-VAT law.** Whether or not the criticism on Recto was fair or not, the fact remains that the Filipino people found it hard to vote for someone who enacted a law that would require them to give their hard-earned money to a government that has a reputation for being corrupt.

The Grand Opening: The Plunder Conviction

After our successful soft-launching, we follow-up our crusade with a Grand Opening. The highlight of which is the plunder conviction of former-president Joseph Ejercito Estrada. This decision by our justice system sends out a strong message. And the message is this: If all the king’s horses and all the king’s men couldn’t save the former president from being sentenced to life imprisonment, then what protection does a corrupt senator have? A corrupt congressman? A corrupt governor? A corrupt mayor? A corrupt clerk? Nothing!!! You don’t have any protection whatsoever. The law will catch up with you. It’s only a matter of time.

Counting on our Lawmakers

As of writing, GMA News reports that the Plunder Law has certain loopholes and that the government can only seize 25% of the P4.1 billion in question. Why? Because the prosecutors were only able to prove that P1 billion was ill-gotten wealth. And so the P3 billion remains with Estrada’s family. Is it just me or is there something terribly wrong with this set-up? Shouldn’t the accused public officer be the one to prove that his money was amassed by rightful means and not the other way around? In the spirit of transparency, I think that whatever money or property that can’t be explained by rightful means should automatically be declared ill-gotten and should be seized by the government. In line with this, I think it’s high time that we revisit our country’s Law on Secrecy of Bank Deposits which makes it illegal for banks to disclose the details of an individual’s or company’s account to any person or agency of government, central or local. Maybe we can make our bank secrecy laws more similar to the US’s Bank Secrecy Act which requires banks and other financial institutions to detect and prevent money laundering, tax evasion, or other criminal activities. In the US, financial institutions are actually required to report suspicious financial activity to the government.

As we push for greater fiscal responsibility in our government, we find that the road ahead will be a challenging one. First of all, we ask ourselves, How can we expect the government to make effective and strict laws against grafters and corruptors when they know that they might be prosecuted under the laws they propose and enact? It’s common knowledge that Estrada was one of the main proponents of the Plunder Law in 1994 when he was still a senator.

At any rate, we continue to hope and believe that our lawmakers will live up to their oath to consecrate themselves to the service of the nation. And that they will truly review and revise our laws so that we can truly put an end to the squandering of the Filipino people’s money caused by graft and corruption. I am certain that our highly qualified lawmakers and their staff will come up with brilliant proposals for change and solutions to our problems.

For those of us who only have newspapers and the Internet as our primary sources of information, I would like to refer you to the following articles:

1. Nelson Nogot Moratalla’s Graft and Corruption: The Philippine Experience. Published in the Resource Material Series No. 56 by the United Nations Asia and Far East Institute for the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders. Tokyo, Japan. 1999.

2. World Bank’s Combating Corruption in the Philippines. May 3, 2000.

3. World Bank’s Combating Corruption in the Philippines: An Update. September 30, 2001

4. Sandiganbayan Justice Manuel Pamaran’s Fighting Graft & Corruption Effectively. Manila Bulletin. April 13, 2005.

The Beginning of the End

Our democracy is a work-in-progress. It is clear to anyone who knows a little bit about management that fiscal responsibility in the government is definitely a cornerstone in our success as a nation. And we are all beginning to realize this. We show it in our actions whenever we are asked to choose our leaders. We show it in our reactions, when our dishonest public officers are punished for amassing ill-gotten wealth. Finally, may we show it in our pro-actions as we demand that our congressmen and senators review and upgrade the laws that relate to the prevention and punishment of graft and corruption in the Philippine government.

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References:
* Mutiny in Manila. Naomi Klein. The Nation. Volume: 277. Issue: 6. September 1, 2003. The Nation Company. USA. 2003
**Big Losers. Carmela Fonbuena. Newsbreak. July-September 2007. Public Trust Media Group Inc. 2007

 

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