That the administration of President Arroyo got a beating in a recent human rights conference was expected. Under President Arroyo’s watch, the Philippines was downgraded by the World Bank and Transparency International in separate studies assessing efforts of countries worldwide to control corruption.
 
A 2008 World Bank gave the Philippines’ anti-corruption efforts a rating of 22 percent, which is a big drop from 45 percent in 2006 under the term of President Fidel Ramos. Transparency International also downgraded the Philippines from its ranking as 121st most corrupt country in 2006 to 141st in 2008.
 
“We edged out Indonesia for the dubious title of being the most corrupt nation in East Asia,” lamented former Supreme Court chief justice Artemio Panganiban.
 
But the fault doesn’t lie in the corrupt politicians alone, said Commission on Human Rights chair Leila de Lima. Corruption is a cycle. The bureaucracy and the private sector are to blame, too.
 
“Just as within the government, as illustrated, for example, by political aspirants who use public money to butter up barangay captains in preparation for looming elections, between government and private enterprise. and between private enterprise with other private enterprises, between big businesses and SMEs, and then full circle between small enterprise and government,” de Lima said in the recent First Integrity and Human Rights Conference that the commission organized with the private sector. The conference was attended by government officials, human rights advocates, and representatives of various NGOs and the international community.
 
“And yet, it is even more widespread than that. Even in aid agencies, foreign-funded NGOs had not been spared of this malady. The realm of NGOs remains, in the minds of our children, the last bastion of altruism and selflessness, yet it too has integrity issues. Where had all this foreign aid gone? What do we have to show for it?,” she added.
 
For every taker, there is a giver

In a presentation showing the anatomy of corruption, Omar Siddique of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) showed how many people can be involved in corruption. (UNDP is a co-sponsor of the conference.)
 
“For every taker, there is a giver,” he said. Either the private enterprises initiate the bribe or they give in to the solicitation of politicians. These transactions also involve lawyers and the bureaucracy who either co-benefit in the corruption or turn a blind eye on the illegal transaction.
 
According to a Social Weather Stations (SWS) October 2008 survey on managers from Metro Manila, Cebu City, and Davao City, seven out of ten companies were asked for a bribe in at least one business transaction.
 
But SWS founder and president Mahar Mangahas noted that only 14 percent of them took action and reported the solicitation of bribes to anti-corruption government agencies. “It’s not very good. Although it was 7 percent three years ago, it’s still a long way to go. We need more whistleblowers,” Mangahas said.
 
Corruption in the private sector can go unpunished, too. The same survey showed that at most one out of two punish their corrupt executives.
 
For a sector which favors the punitive option for corrupt government officials, this is an area that the business sector should work on, Mangahas said. Businessmen supposedly want to “put corrupt people in jail, shoot them, and bring back the death penalty.”
 
“This is something that needs to be done inside. You’ve got to be strict with yourselves,” Mangahas said.
 
De Lima also blames the apathy of the people. “This is part of that awkward middle ground upon which we stand on—to feel indignation at the latest news of another government cover-up, but not to feel indignation when we ourselves give in to corruption,” she said.
 
“We need to put an end to our habit of openly denouncing corruption, then surreptitiously consenting to it. Many of use here are guilty of this,” she added.  
Change in values, not in Constitution

There is no need to change the Constitution to address the country’s governance problems, Panganiban said. He stressed the need to go back to basic ethics.
 
“It is interesting to note that more than 90 percent of our people are Christians who profess to know, to follow and serve Jesus Christ, the God who preached that the truth shall set us free; the God who condemned violence, selfishness, and corruption. Why, then, is our country one of the poorest, most graft-ridden and most violent in this part of the world. The answer is that Christians live dichotomized lives; they are Christians only in their thoughts, not in their actions; Christians only in their faith, not in their deeds; Christians only while worshipping inside the churches, not while working in their offices.
 
“Unfortunately, while our Constitution and laws have created laudable democratic institutions and given them sufficient powers to solve the demons of corruption and human rights violations, far too many of the incumbents do not have the moral courage and the competence to perform their mandates.
 
“What we need therefore is not a change of Constitution or laws, but a change of our officials. In fact, not just a change of officials, but a change in our officials from the inside out,” he said.