Second of three parts
IN its 1972 report on widespread corruption in the New York City Police Department, the Knapp Commission said: “A high command unwilling to admit that the problem of corruption is extensive cannot very well argue that drastic changes are necessary to deal with the problem.”
In the Philippines it has been conservatively estimated that one-fifth of the national budget is lost to corruption every year. Put another way, in every six-year presidential term, the country actually operates on less than five years’ funding. Although the actual figure can be debated, the amount is staggering, and Filipinos are literally dying as a result.
Every administration campaigns against corruption, but every administration ends up tolerating some degree of it as unavoidable. This fatalistic mind-set needs to change. Corruption cannot be accepted as an inevitable result of low salary, or as the work of a few “bad apples.” To be honest, it takes more than a few bad apples to steal 20 percent of the national budget.
Corruption is endemic; it is widespread; it is common. It is an interwoven part of the Philippine government “system.”
It’s only natural that the Philippine government, and Filipinos themselves, would want to downplay the degree of this embarrassing problem, by citing similar issues in other countries, or again by attributing it to bad apples, but in reality, this only makes corruption easier to tolerate. Openly and publicly acknowledging the true depth of the problem will drive fundamental changes in the war on corruption.
The first step in an effective anticorruption campaign is to confront the problem head-on, by acknowledging how widespread it truly is, and then by declaring an absolute zero-tolerance policy: “Corruption is a threat to national security, as great as any military threat. It starves our citizens and robs them of vital services. Corruption is not a victimless crime. Corruption kills, and corrupt officials are criminals, no different than pickpockets and drug dealers. Corruption is not a temptation, or a result of low salary or difficult circumstances; it is a choice. And this government will no longer tolerate it, in any amount, at any level.”
And then government needs to go to war.
There are two primary ways to attack corruption of a scale like that found in the Philippines. The first is by eliminating “red tape.” This refers to any administrative procedure that serves no practical purpose. In many cases, these steps are intentionally implemented as obstacles, “toll gates” which can be passed only after payment of a “fee.” This includes delays in processing, the need for multiple signatures or approvals, and the demand for documents or “requirements.”
To reduce red tape, government should conduct a nationwide program of “process improvement,” to review and justify the steps involved in providing all government services, in all offices, at all levels. This review should be done with full transparency, to ensure public oversight, and should subject procedures for all government services to a strict set of criteria. Any step that does not provide practical value must be removed. In a matter of months, government services at all levels can be made more efficient, and opportunities for corruption lessened considerably, through this program.
The second way to attack corruption is to radically strengthen the government’s auditing, investigation and prosecution agencies.
Justified by the declaration that corruption is a threat to national security, the fight against it should be given the same priority as national defense. The Ombudsman, Sandiganbayan and the Commission on Audit should be budgeted, manned, and equipped on a level nearly equal to the police and military. This will certainly require a significant realignment of budgetary priorities, to fund technological modernization, salaries for an army of inspectors, and even court costs for prosecuting corrupt officials, but in reality, it makes sound fiscal sense.
Unlike law enforcement and defense, anticorruption agencies can actually save government money. The amount of taxpayer money lost through corruption and waste in the Philippines is staggering, but if a significant portion can be recovered by spending more money, government would actually realize a gain rather than an expense. The return on this investment, in the form of a “clean house dividend” will be greater than any other project the government will ever undertake.
In addition, radically increasing the size of the various anti-corruption agencies would create tens of thousands of new jobs for accountants, data-entry workers, computer technicians and many others. In fact, it’s likely that the effort could employ every graduating accountant for the next several years.
There is no “down side” to an aggressive anticorruption campaign.
One Philippines, One Standard
IN developed countries, the national government can be seen and felt with the same presence in all parts of the country, regardless of distance or remoteness. In the United States, for example, no one refers to California, or even Alaska or Hawaii, as “outlying states.” No one calls Okinawa or Hokkaido the “hinterlands” of Japan.
In the Philippines, though, government radiates outwardly from the national capital, decreasing in visibility and effectiveness the farther one travels from Manila. Although it may be slowly changing, many Filipinos consider it a fact of life that they have to travel all the way to Metro Manila to obtain some government services, and that “Imperial Manila” captures more than its fair share of government attention and resources.
A state of lawlessness exists in some of these distant areas simply because government operates outwardly rather than in parallel. Like a large room illuminated by a single lamp, the country is filled with shadows and dark spots. And those shadows are usually filled with all sorts of vermin, including some in government service. Much better to evenly distribute rows of light bulbs which bathe each part of the room with the same amount of light. It is much harder for corruption and lawlessness to prosper when there are no shadows to hide in.
This is a major source of public discontent, and is the reason anti-government and criminal elements continue to thrive in those areas. They fill the void left by an absent or weak government.
To be truly effective and to truly serve the entire population, the national government must be seen and felt in a standardized form throughout the country. Every service available in Metro Manila must be available in all parts of the country, in equal form and equal quality.
In the United States every state capital, and most major cities, have a “federal building” in which all national government agencies hold office. Every national service is available in these offices, in equal form, quality and speed. The Philippine government should implement this, as well, at the very least in every provincial capital. A citizen requesting any government service should be able to get it just as fast in Negros as in Manila. Government service and influence must be delivered, and felt, in exactly the same way across the entire country.
Along with services, government obligations must be carried out in the provinces with the same vigor and quality as in the capital. Road repair, education and, most important, law enforcement must be conducted in exactly the same way in every part of the country. A police station in Patikul, Sulu must be similarly equipped and must follow the same procedures as one in Makati. This means they must wear the same uniform, fill out the same reports and offer the same services, in accordance with the same laws. We need to eliminate the word, and the concept of, “remote” from the national discussion.
To be concluded
Michael Brown has lived over 16 years in the Philippines. He writes on English, traffic management, law enforcement, and more recently, government. Follow him on Twitter at @M_i_c_h_a_e_l