Corruption is dead in 2018! Long live Corruption…in 2018!
As we are about to head into a new exciting year, the question obviously is: Will we enjoy a level playing field in 2018? Will we be tough and walk away from all corruption challenges?
It should be our clear understanding that every loud proclamation that corruption - as we know it - is ‘dead’ is followed by something new. Let’s agree that there is plenty of resourcefulness out there to redefine and reinvent corruption. Resourcefulness generates options – through creative and curious problem ‘creation’, especially in an environment of lacking accountability and supervision. As we said in one of our earlier columns: corruption enablers are created daily.
The obvious question is: Why does corruption survive?
Its survival depends upon four conditions:
The first condition necessary for the emergence and re-emergence of corruption is that there be rents associated with a government’s regulatory powers. Plus the ‘opportunities’ being created by a Build. Build. Build. - infrastructure investment drive.
The second condition requires that corrupt bureaucracies be somewhat independent within the remaining (if honest) administrative structure of the government. External controls of the bureaucracy – whether imposed by the remainder of the administrative system or by society at large – must be weak. Let’s create strong integrity circles, composed of business and civil society, and hopefully LGUs).
The third condition requires the public institutions controlling corruption be weak and ineffective. These institutions include civic groups that exert moral pressures, political parties and the media that could expose the wrongdoing, and the legal system that would have the authority to prosecute and punish the guilty (in the Philippines, the poor have to go to jail but the rich can easily get away or delay processes). Without judicial reform, corruption will continue to blossom.
The fourth condition is a lack of whistleblower protection. It is obvious that strange deals between government and the private sector and private sector to private sector (price fixing, collusion in biddings, bribing technical and purchasing staff, etc.) will only become known if people inside those companies become whistleblowers. This is the reason why the Integrity Initiative advocates the approval of bills in both Houses of Congress that protect whistleblowers. At the present situation, I would not be courageous enough to be a whistleblower. You?
Measures of economic and social development seem to correlate very strongly with a reduction in corruption, involving the type of legal system, colonial legacies and religion. While it is clear that the level of corruption in societies with well-developed political institutions is lower, it is difficult to establish the direction of causation. Does development (economic, political or social) cause corruption to decline or is development possible only when corruption declines?
It’s time that companies and individuals sign the Integrity Pledge. Do it now and help creating the Integrity Nation we all want.
And remember, Integrity starts with I – meaning YOU. Let me close by saying: YOU are the final authority. Not the government. Not the president. Not Mom or Dad. YOU. No community of philosophers, scientists, priests, academicians, politicians, or generals – no school, legislature, parliament, or court – can bear responsibility for your life, or your words, or your actions. This authority is yours and yours alone. YOU can neither get rid of it nor escape from it.