Stained stash

The local bureaucracy is infested with greedy officials who use the influence of their positions to make extra bucks in any way possible. So, millions of pesos worth of fake medical services are being charged to PhilHealth. Customs officials are getting kickbacks from

smugglers for clearing and releasing their imported contraband.

Public works engineers get under-the-table commissions from contractors they approve to join biddings to win lucrative contracts.

Immigration officers charge foreigners for working visas or extended stays in the country and hide the collected grease money by wrapping it inside sheets of white paper — wads of money rolled in paper like pastillas.

Senator Christopher “Bong” Go has warned pastillas gangs at the airport that President Duterte will make them eat their pastillas if caught.

Go reminded instances when, as Davao City mayor, Duterte made a guy selling fake land titles eat the documents he was passing off as genuine. In another instance, he also made a guy name-dropping his name to solicit money eat the cash he extorted.

In Brazil, where graft and corruption also infest the bureaucracy and legislature, greedy officials have different modus of stealing public funds and ways of concealing stolen money.

A Brazilian senator suspected of misappropriating government funds intended for pandemic response was caught by police hiding such money after raiding his house on Wednesday.

During the ensuing police raid of the allegedly corrupt senator’s house, he was caught red-handed with the said money. Senator Chico Rodrigues, the 69-year-old deputy leader in the Senate, was concealing the equivalent of 30,000 reais in his underpants.

Finding the stolen public funds was commendable, but actually recovering them was disgusting as they were stained with feces. It left the police with no option but to do some money laundering.