AT the recent district conference of the Rotary Club in Subic, I shared my views on corruption and governance, or the lack of it.
At least
R22 billion of the country’s budget for public infrastructure and the procurement of goods and services is lost yearly to official corruption. The World Bank has estimated that over $40 billion has been lost over the past 20 years to corruption.
We have been ranked as the 2nd most corrupt country in Asia. Our notorious ranking as one of the 15 most corrupt countries in the world has been an embarrassing constant. We have degenerated into a nation of 10 percenters. So-called SOPs have been a way of life in a generally dishonest bureaucracy.
The culture of corruption is pervasive.
In a country rich and stable enough to withstand the ravages of corruption, the impact of such squandering of our resources would have been effectively cushioned. But we are a developing country that has to practically bleed to raise every peso for capital outlay and operational expense. As a result, unchecked corruption has limited the flow of state investments to vital social overhead. Our educational system has been on a dangerous slide to a state of utter and seemingly irreversible mediocrity. Among the Asian countries, we spend the least for education, despite the primacy of educational investments in our Constitution. Our health budget is far, far below the United Nations minimum requirement for investment in the health sector.
Our infrastructure and transport networks are among the most decrepit and obsolete in the world.
While 40 percent of all economic activity in the country is agriculture-related, corruption has made it impossible to devote more money to agricultural research and development, production and marketing support, and even propping up agri sub-sectors threatened by globalization.
What are the basic requirements of good governance?
First is accountability.
People in government should be answerable for their actions and decisions. Laws on official conduct and ethical standards should be imposed without fear or favor.
The punishment of crooks should be swift and unforgiving. Next time we take pity on crooks in government, just think of the children of school age that cannot go to school because some dirty fingers pocketed the money allocated for school construction. Or think of the children dying from lack of medical attention because of the misappropriation of scarce government money for basic health services.
Second is transparency.
Citizens should be informed on how decisions are arrived at on every level of government. They should have full knowledge on the most important and the most mundane affairs of government. The right to correct and updated information about the workings of government should be asserted by all Filipinos every time.
Third is a strong and unassailable legal system
The Asian Development Bank has aptly summed up why legal stability and predictability is one of the essential components of good governance. It says:
A country’s legal environment must be conducive to development. A government must be able to regulate itself via laws, regulations, and policies, which encompass well-defined rights and duties, mechanisms for their enforcement, and impartial settlement of disputes. Predictability is about the fair and consistent application of these laws and implementation of government policies.
"Of course, the government is not the only player in the overall effort to carry out and promote good governance. Ordinary Filipinos, NGOs, people’s organizations, and entire communities should join the leaders of the public and private sectors in developing and nurturing a healthy civic culture.
We are all stakeholders in this effort and must do something about it now.
