By Leandro V. Coronel
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 04:27:00 03/21/2009
Filed Under: Graft & Corruption
Exposés about theft of the people's money hit us almost nonstop. Every day the news assaults us, the rapacity is mind-boggling.
The extent of the plunder is almost beyond belief, certainly for the naive and uninitiated among us. When will all this stealing stop? A wise man once wrote: There is enough in the world for everyone's need, but not enough for everyone's greed.
What hurts most is how our fellow Filipinos can do this to us, plain and simple citizens who have no power in our hands, no influence in the corridors of power, no recourse to the right connections.
Never before has this kind of widespread plunder been brought upon our people. In the hitherto darkest chapter of Philippine governance, the reign of Ferdinand Marcos, only chartered members of the dictator's kleptocracy were privileged to join in the plunder. A small circle of cronies and court jesters had their hands in the public till.
Today the plunder has been democratized. It seems everybody in government, from the most powerful to the lowliest barangay [village] functionary, is sucking the public coffers dry. Leeches!
Philippine Daily Inquirer columnist Juan Mercado cried out: Is stealing citizens blind now a qualification for public office? A lengthening litany of scams crams the public consciousness, eclipsing earlier scandals. We risk forgetting earlier scams, he wrote.
Government is today not the arena where good men serve their country. Government today is the hunting ground of thieves and favor-peddlers. Poor senators, congressmen, Cabinet members, if there are any, are the exception. It's not unusual to see city barangay chairmen zooming around in SUVs. Petty bureaucrats live in luxury. The quickest way to make bucks these days is to wangle a government post.
Meanwhile, the common people marinate in poverty. Living standards here aren't even fit for beggars. The quality of life, even for the middle class, is very low. Teeming numbers of common people have no basic amenities in their homes.
All this while a small minority helps itself to the public treasury and feasts on the nation's wealth. Have these people no shame?
How could someone live in a palace, enjoying all the perquisites of wealth and a good life, and allow massive poverty to stalk our people every day?
How could people in Congress make deals left and right and amass wealth they had only dreamt of before, and read statistics (I doubt they see actual scenes of poverty) about redundant poverty among their countrymen without lifting a finger to do something about the problem?
How could provincial governors, town mayors and barangay officials live day to day surrounded by sick elderly, dying children and young people bereft of any future? Have these people no consciences?
Stealing is today not an exclusively white-collar crime. If the rich steal from the poor, the poor also steal from the poor. Kidnappings, holdups and snatching plague ordinary people daily. The excuse of the criminals? They have families to feed. But don't their victims have families to feed too?
Have we all been reduced to being leeches who suck away the blood of the next person? Vultures that swoop down on every vulnerable person in view? Piranhas in a feeding frenzy as they smother the next victim?
Why, we've become a nation of cannibals, preying on each other. Is this survival of the fittest or preservation of the greediest and of the conscience-less? We've rejoined the lower animals that eat their own species.
We're gnawing away at the core of a dying nation. Before long, all that will be left is a discarded carcass of a nation.
Who said that in a few years we shall have attained First World status? Bah, humbug!
But where is the people's outrage? Are we a nation of masochists, begging pain and punishment from those in power?
Other commentators have rued in disbelief the tolerance and patience of the Filipino people. Why aren't they out in the streets screaming for the heads of those who are supposed to be accountable to them?
Unfortunately, we're still a people locked in a feudal system we had inherited from the colonizers. Our current lords and masters have succeeded in preserving a caste system where an elite rules. Well-meaning amendments to the Constitution haven't made life more equal and better for the common people.
Most of us commentators would rather be optimistic about the future. We're loath to issue pessimistic predictions that tend to become self-fulfilling.
But reality is persuasive. We cannot close our eyes to the grim reality that stares us in the face daily. Until a well-meaning and selfless government attains power, prospects for a better life for the people remains a distant dream. Any promises of relief from the current crop of leaders are just cruel hoaxes.
Who has time for decades more of the same? Do we have any choice?
Gather around, fellow masochists, let's watch as our lords and masters feast on a dying nation.
Leandro V. Coronel is a former World Bank spokesman and a semi-retired columnist.
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 04:27:00 03/21/2009
Filed Under: Graft & Corruption
Exposés about theft of the people's money hit us almost nonstop. Every day the news assaults us, the rapacity is mind-boggling.
The extent of the plunder is almost beyond belief, certainly for the naive and uninitiated among us. When will all this stealing stop? A wise man once wrote: There is enough in the world for everyone's need, but not enough for everyone's greed.
What hurts most is how our fellow Filipinos can do this to us, plain and simple citizens who have no power in our hands, no influence in the corridors of power, no recourse to the right connections.
Never before has this kind of widespread plunder been brought upon our people. In the hitherto darkest chapter of Philippine governance, the reign of Ferdinand Marcos, only chartered members of the dictator's kleptocracy were privileged to join in the plunder. A small circle of cronies and court jesters had their hands in the public till.
Today the plunder has been democratized. It seems everybody in government, from the most powerful to the lowliest barangay [village] functionary, is sucking the public coffers dry. Leeches!
Philippine Daily Inquirer columnist Juan Mercado cried out: Is stealing citizens blind now a qualification for public office? A lengthening litany of scams crams the public consciousness, eclipsing earlier scandals. We risk forgetting earlier scams, he wrote.
Government is today not the arena where good men serve their country. Government today is the hunting ground of thieves and favor-peddlers. Poor senators, congressmen, Cabinet members, if there are any, are the exception. It's not unusual to see city barangay chairmen zooming around in SUVs. Petty bureaucrats live in luxury. The quickest way to make bucks these days is to wangle a government post.
Meanwhile, the common people marinate in poverty. Living standards here aren't even fit for beggars. The quality of life, even for the middle class, is very low. Teeming numbers of common people have no basic amenities in their homes.
All this while a small minority helps itself to the public treasury and feasts on the nation's wealth. Have these people no shame?
How could someone live in a palace, enjoying all the perquisites of wealth and a good life, and allow massive poverty to stalk our people every day?
How could people in Congress make deals left and right and amass wealth they had only dreamt of before, and read statistics (I doubt they see actual scenes of poverty) about redundant poverty among their countrymen without lifting a finger to do something about the problem?
How could provincial governors, town mayors and barangay officials live day to day surrounded by sick elderly, dying children and young people bereft of any future? Have these people no consciences?
Stealing is today not an exclusively white-collar crime. If the rich steal from the poor, the poor also steal from the poor. Kidnappings, holdups and snatching plague ordinary people daily. The excuse of the criminals? They have families to feed. But don't their victims have families to feed too?
Have we all been reduced to being leeches who suck away the blood of the next person? Vultures that swoop down on every vulnerable person in view? Piranhas in a feeding frenzy as they smother the next victim?
Why, we've become a nation of cannibals, preying on each other. Is this survival of the fittest or preservation of the greediest and of the conscience-less? We've rejoined the lower animals that eat their own species.
We're gnawing away at the core of a dying nation. Before long, all that will be left is a discarded carcass of a nation.
Who said that in a few years we shall have attained First World status? Bah, humbug!
But where is the people's outrage? Are we a nation of masochists, begging pain and punishment from those in power?
Other commentators have rued in disbelief the tolerance and patience of the Filipino people. Why aren't they out in the streets screaming for the heads of those who are supposed to be accountable to them?
Unfortunately, we're still a people locked in a feudal system we had inherited from the colonizers. Our current lords and masters have succeeded in preserving a caste system where an elite rules. Well-meaning amendments to the Constitution haven't made life more equal and better for the common people.
Most of us commentators would rather be optimistic about the future. We're loath to issue pessimistic predictions that tend to become self-fulfilling.
But reality is persuasive. We cannot close our eyes to the grim reality that stares us in the face daily. Until a well-meaning and selfless government attains power, prospects for a better life for the people remains a distant dream. Any promises of relief from the current crop of leaders are just cruel hoaxes.
Who has time for decades more of the same? Do we have any choice?
Gather around, fellow masochists, let's watch as our lords and masters feast on a dying nation.
Leandro V. Coronel is a former World Bank spokesman and a semi-retired columnist.
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