MAPping the Future

For decades now, three (3) major challenges have been plaguing our nation:

1. Corruption,
2. Electoral Frauds, and
3. Political Dynasties.

The first two are serious crimes under governance, while the third is the one responsible, if not accountable, for these problems – our governors, the political dynasties.

Corruption

Corruption is defined as the misuse or abuse of public resources for private gains by those entrusted with power.  Examples include graft, bribery, cronyism, nepotism, embezzlement, extortion, racketeering, fraud, tax evasion, vote-buying, etc.

Yearly, Transparency International, a non-profit global organization that combats and monitors corruption, publishes the “Corruption Perceptions Index” or CPI.

First published in 1996, CPI uses a scale from 0 to 100 where 100 is very clean and 0 is very corrupt.

How has the Philippines fared with the CPI in the last two (2) decades?

Poorly.  We ranked 114 out of 180 countries.  We averaged about 34 points hitting a high of 38 points in 2014.

Among the ten (10) ASEAN countries, the Philippines was near the bottom, just besting Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia – the bottom dwellers.

Singapore, on the other hand, ranked third (no. 3) of 180 countries, bested only by Denmark (no. 1) and Finland (no. 2).  It averaged about 85 points.

There can be no better, “au courant” evidence of corruption in our country than the 2025 national budget.  It has been mangled so much that funds meant for healthcare, education, defense and social services have been taken away and transferred to pork barrel, or feast for our politicians.

A significant portion went to flood control which is difficult to audit – structures are simply swept away by the floods, so there is nothing to audit afterwards.  DPWH projects are reportedly a money machine for politicians, with twenty (20) to thirty (30) per cent going to the congressman and ten per cent going to the congressional district.

The much bigger portion of the budget went to “ayuda,” or help, – to help our politicians buy votes, if not loyalty of persons who probably could not be properly identified as deserving of help.

Perhaps, corruption may be partially curved by putting limits to what the Congress or Senate can do with the national budget, or by requiring quantity survey, or detailed accounting of DPWH projects.

Electoral Frauds

Electoral frauds have been with us since the 1950s when claims were made that even the birds and the bees in Mindanao voted. They continue to be a major challenge until now.

Having a clean election remains a major problem, with full computerization possibly only speeding up cheating.  A hybrid type of election process has been proposed by experts, i.e., manual counting and computerized canvassing, but COMELEC prevailed with fully computerized process despite doubts expressed by some sectors. There were also reports that the present electoral process has never really undergone full independent audit, which is a must, if public trust is to be earned.

It seems a more transparent electoral process is the return to manual counting of votes at the precinct level and the electronic canvassing of votes afterwards to speed up the election results.

Political Dynasties

A recent study by the Ateneo Department of Government concluded that about two-thirds to three-fourths of key government positions have been held in decades by political dynasties, with their share growing through the years.  Another interesting conclusion of the study – there are “thin” and “fat” dynasties. The “fatter” or bigger the influence of a political dynasty, the poorer the community under it.

Clearly, we must persevere to reduce the political dynasties’ influence on us.

A provision of our 1987 Constitution bans political dynasties, “as may be defined by legislation.”   Guess what?  It has been thirty-eight (38) years since the passing of our Constitution, and neither Congress nor Senate has passed a bill defining political dynasty. As one said, “Why should our legislature, dominated by political dynasties, pass a law that would go against their interests?”

Can we overcome these major challenges so our nation can flourish in the future? Who knows?  Maybe in the next generation.

(This article reflects the personal opinion of the author and does not reflect the official stand of the Management Association of the Philippines or MAP.  The author is a member of MAP, former President and CEO of three major institutions and an independent director of several major domestic companies. Feedback at <map@map.org.ph> and <rcv3313@gmail.com>.)