After all that praying, introspection, and holidaying during the Easter weekend of Lent, the nation should now brace up to the challenges of the global financial crisis that is spreading throughout the world.

However, to start with, we, the Filipino people, should vehemently deny and take umbrage of, the accusations that we are a corrupt nation, and corruption here is systemic.

While corruption may be a deterrent to rapid economic growth, and disincentive to the entry of direct private foreign investments, corruption is comparatively modest and tolerable compared to the magnitude of corruption in many countries.

We are neither a nation of pariahs nor an incorrigibly corrupt country.

We assert that Filipinos are generally honest with an innate word of honor.

The labeling is unjust, bias, and unfair. Why then has the Philippines gained the notoriety of widespread corruption?

The answer lies not in the soul of the Filipino but in the environment, politics, economic structure, cultural roots, and western materialism that the Filipino has inherited, and had grown up with.

It follows that the ugly head of corruption will emerge when these noble traits and institutions are abused or corrupted either by the absence of good governance, or conscious defiance for the rule of law, or the lack of upright leadership by example.

On the one hand, individuals, or officials, or groups commit graft by means of political influence, avarice, tax avoidance, fraud, or foreign pressure to satisfy greed, high lifestyle, political war chest, competitive edge, family pressure, unjust living wage, poverty, malnutrition, inflationary pressure, and vices, such as, drugs, or immoral activities that cost money.

Examples of graft and corruption range from megabucks projects, such as, rail, public works, mining, banking, drugs and jueteng, to street level petty extortions, to kidnapping-for-ransom, tax manipulations, Customs under appraisal, to watch-your-car hasslers, bribery taking and extorting policemen, abuse of Congressional pork barrel allocations, to bank heists, and guns-for-hire.

In brief, by definition, corruption pervades and permeates all levels of society from the richest to the poorest brought about by economic pressure, exigencies of politics, greed, poverty, and social inequalities.

Corruption is evil, per se. For these reasons, star Wall Street player Bernie Madoff stands accused of massive $50 billion ponzi fraud which makes the charges against Celso de los Angeles Legacy Group puny by comparison.

Exactly a year ago, the Chairman of South Korea’s largest conglomerate (Chaebol) Samsung, Lee Kun-Hee, was not only forced to resign on charges of tax evasion and breach of trust but was made to apologize to the nation.

The Samsung chairman, if found guilty, faces five years to life in jail.

Further, Korea has the practice of punishing tainted officials by slapping them with fines 50 times more than the bribes they took, and jail terms.

Moreover, in Korea, ex-presidents, ex-generals, ex-CEOs, and ex-chairmen are not exempted from harsh punishments and incarceration that the law prescribes.

When all is said and done, no nation on earth has a monopoly of corruption.

All nations, big and small, experience corruption and scandals in differing degrees, and from the mega to the petty.

The saving grace is in sound governance, equitable and just application of justice, leadership, and national discipline.

Be that as it may, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo vows to eradicate corruption to the best of her ability.

Alas, as noted author Theodore White had observed, “The flood of money that gushes into politics today is a pollution of democracy.”

You be the judge.

(For comments and views, please e-mail: chaff_fromthegrain@yahoo.com.ph)