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THE SMUGGLING of P6.4-billion worth of shabu into the country just this May was appalling. That it got past what should have been tight screening by the Bureau of Customs, however, was not surprising. At the Customs bureau, the so-called “tara system” is being practiced. What is it exactly? It is actually a “lagay system” to facilitate the movement of goods of certain businessmen.
So what else is new? From kotong paid by lowly workers to policemen and traffic aides, to outright bribes given to customs officials, to commissions and kickbacks given to government functionaries for huge contracts and monopoly privileges – corruption sucks the lifeblood of our economy.
Little wonder that our infrastructures are substandard; the tong-pats corrupt the quality of materials and design. Worse, ghost projects and ghost deliveries have spooked almost every agency of the government. At some point in the recent past, Transparency International ranked our country among the most corrupt.
We keep asking ourselves – what must be done? We keep thinking of new laws and new rules, new systems even, in our desire to fight corruption. We keep thinking of new ways to entice investments, to make our economy produce more, and create more jobs for an ever-increasing population. We keep calling for moral revolution, exhorting all in a crusade for change, forgetting that change must begin with the leaders, that good example is the most powerful agent of change.
Disillusionment with the system has set in, dangerously – into a sense of hopelessness. Public service on the part of those who were elected to serve has become a sick joke for those at the receiving end of service most selfish and governance most bad. In its stead, we have corruption most gross – worse with each passing leadership. For public servants, elected or appointed, it has become a way of life, but for an exceptional few. The higher the position, the bigger the cost of corruption, while those in lower positions justify their own take because their superiors have become immoderately greedy.
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