Citizens unite! Gov’t alone cannot lick corruption

“CITIZEN’S Primer Against Corruption,” by Concepcion C. Asis, Asis Publishing House, 2012

The recurring issue of corruption has enjoyed front page treatment for the last two weeks, highlighted by two events.

Recently, the collective attention of newspaper readers, plus television and radio audiences—not to mention netizens—has been revived by the accusations of a Czech Ambassador that a certain official of the Metro Rail Transit Authority (MRTA) demanded a two digit figure in million dollars in exchange for a contract to supply new coaches to the metropolis’s rail transit facility. Media folks have trained their lenses on the protagonists, reading between the lines to find out who is telling the truth and who is simply headline-seeking or throwing a smokescreen.

Only two weeks ago, people reacted with unabashed glee that, finally, big-time officials will finally be thrown behind bars. That was after the Ombudsman announced that it found probable cause to file plunder charges against three high-profile Senators and other respondents on the misuse of the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF). Surveys have shown that a vast majority of our people wants to see these officials pay for their crimes.

But, what’s this general sense that, somehow, the Ombudsman’s act may not be followed immediate by arrest? What’s this lingering doubt that government alone, shackled by many vested interests, cannot serve the ends of justice? Very few doubt the resolve of the present government to send the guilty to jail, and yet everyone is saying citizens must be mobilized to speed up the process.

This makes the book “Citizens’ Primer Against Corruption” very timely and relevant to the current talk of the town – or, if you may, passion of the moment. How indeed can we harness citizens to report, follow up, initiate suits and then mobilize people power so that cases in courts do not go the way, as the song goes—referring to cases—“and they lie there, and they die there.”

Written by Concepcion C. Asis, once director general of the Liberal Party, and still a political activist, the book was published under the auspices of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom, which is dedicated around the world to combat corruption.

There have been books on fighting corruption in the academe and popular bookstores, and yet, for the first time, we have a book that is meant and that has been designed for people at the frontlines in fighting corruption in towns and cities, in the regions and in the many national agencies of the country.

It is not your “over-researched and over-analyzed” textbook on graft and corruption—that will send you to dreamland after a few pages. It is not also one that bores you to death on the many dimensions, studies, cases and numbers referring to corruption. This is a book that wastes no time in telling the citizen—“let’s learn and let’s go to work.”

“What is corruption?” the author asks. She uses the World Bank definition that simply says: Corruption is the “abuse of public office for private gain.” See, you can easily apply this to graft issues that comprise our burning headlines. Is PDAF abuse of public funds? Is asking for a “goodwill money” meant for public gain?

The next chapter deals with “tracking, detecting and monitoring corruption.” It introduces a United Nations Handbook on Practical Anti-Corruption Measures for prosecutors and investigators. They introduced detection in two categories: proactive detection and reactive detection.  It also includes an anti-corruption toolkit prepared by the United Nations Global Programme Against Corruption. Readers may go through the check-list on how to detect and report the offender.

See, this book is meant and made for citizens who have “bias for action.”

The book warns that anti-corruption drives may be “hazardous to your life.” The author has mentioned names in recent history where “whistle blowers” paid so dearly for their lives, their decision to pinpoint officials involved in graft. Even when told matter-of-factly, the silencing of truth tellers has a chilling effect on ordinary citizens.

And yet you do not have to be in harm’s way to be part of a broad-based anti-corruption campaign. The author details many areas where every citizen can be a “graft-buster.” She has detailed this in Chapter 8, the core substance of this book, titled: Citizens’ Participation in the Fight Against Corruption.”

If you are looking for Constitutional and legal bases for ordinary people’s involvement in battling graft, Chapter 5 – “Survey of Philippine Laws Against Corruption” has presented every conceivable constitutional and legal support  for a broad-based drive against corruption and in favor of honesty in office.

There is a thoughtful discussion on the idea that “corruption is a major challenge to development.” “Corruption exacerbates poverty” is one point. What about this? “Corruption has a debilitating effect on development in countries rich in natural resources.” You mean, countries like the Philippines rich in mineral, forest and aquatic resources will remain poor? Yes, because of corruption. Read this interesting insight, and find your advocacy.

In one of 2009 Enterprise Surveys by the World Bank, 58.5 percent of Philippine manufacturing firms expected that they “should give gifts to secure government contracts.” Another stunning figure cited in the book is this: “More than $1 trillion is paid in bribes every year all over the world.” This study says that the amount is 3 percent of the world income in 2002.

An in-depth discussion on the “moral dimensions of corruption” brings the reader to the time when “corruption” came to the Garden of Eden. This is obviously a Judeo-Christian view of human existence. Since that time when the Serpent corrupted human nature, graft has seeped into the many aspects of human life.

The good thing about this belief system is that it has the built-in optimism of redemption, of truly changing individuals—and then change society and government.

The author makes a personal statement at the conclusion of this book, harking back to People Power, and declaring this point, justifiably so, even from the viewpoint of this writer: “I believe this is the best time in our history to fearlessly and relentlessly pursue the fight against corruption. We have a President who has the political will to clean our society.”

Government cannot combat graft  alone, and the thesis of this book is that, ultimately, citizens should muster courage and enough numbers to tell the courts of justice, to warn high-profile and small offenders that the people just have the toolkit and more than enough valor to make corruption pay.  Citizens against graft, unite! (Book is available in Popular Book Store in QC. E-mail [email protected].)