Walang mahirap?

In the scramble to win voters to their side the front-runners in the presidential race have zeroed in on their supposed anti-corruption stance. They have pictured themselves as the proverbial knights of the shining armor battling the windmill of corruption “Kung walang corrupt, walang mahirap,” declares a candidate. “Kami ay laban sa corruption”, shouts another. Of course, they know they are promising the moon. But they know too that to get the mandate they have not only to appear clean but also to look like fighters against venalities.

   Truth to tell, all except perhaps one, who are angling for the highest office of the land are trapos in the purest sense of the term. Fight corruption? Why, they have been in their vaunted offices for years, but what had they done? Even as whistleblowers they couldn’t qualify, weak and quiet as they were when big time malpractices raged almost uncontrolled in the bureaucracy.

   Now they have morphed into instant crusaders for good government. What a joke! What a joke indeed for Philippine democracy. Changing leadership is supposed to be changing for the better – better governance for better quality of life. But in the last four decades the system has not worked toward that end, and the result is some kind of reverse development – more politics, more corruption, more numerous the poor.

   Anyway, for the joke of it all, the people are gayly dancing to the beat of political music. They have taken sides and are flocking to rallies partly to impress the visiting moguls, partly to satiate their curiosity. To speeches they seem to lend ears and happily applaud even if these are half understood. What do they care for slogans, for promises? It’s the speaker, not the speech. And the goodies on election day.

   They are all the same, seems to be the popular thinking. So who cares who gets the mandate? Perhaps, their local gods do care for these thrive on patronage. But not they, the grassroot folks who would all be forgotten like the weeds when all the hooplahs subside.

   Years ago their elders chose a bar topnotcher to lead them, hoping his brilliant mind could take them to better climes. But later he turned into a despot whose reign of greed sucked the lifeblood of the nation which until now still hemorrhages for its unpaid loans. He taught us violence too and a total disregard of human life, which to this day continues to bedevil our social order in the form of rampant criminality.

   A Philippine version of Joan of Arc saved us more than decade later. She did a good job fixing the system and tried to fix too our damaged psyche. But too late, the mind set was hardened. Clean in conscience and laudable in desire, she could not stifle the hedonistic hunger of those around her. “Kamag-anaks” abound and took advantage of her weakness. And the poor, now free, were – and still are – roaming around freely in search of eatables.

   “Kung walang corrupt, walang mahirap!” How simple the message is, yet how simplistic! First, no statesman no matter how saintly can get rid of the poor. That’s why in even the most developed countries the poor exist, albeit in limited number. Second, development is the formula to minimize poverty and to achieve this more than honesty and good intention are needed. Leadership of the highest level is a must, a quality which is sadly wanting in the candidates who are capitalizing on corruption to win followers.

   Third, corruption in its various facets has unfortunately become embedded in the culture. From the massa to the masters, deviant behaviors have been observed. In fact, since a modicum of a material good is necessary for the practice of virtue, to quote a saint, those who have less in life have greater tendency to break the rules than those who have more. Take garbage disposal, for example, who throw their waste here and these but the slum denizens? Peanuts, one night say. It’s the corruption of the powerful that debilitates. True, but whether it’s worth is multi-centavos or multi-billions pesos, the name of the game is the same.

   To cleanse a culture one must zero in on the spinners of that culture – the home, the church, the school, the community organizations, the business firms, the government – the total environment, actually. It’s a big job of course and it’s time-table covers a generation or two.

   The question is, have those presidentiables who banner anti-corruption as their catchword have come up with a plan on how to pursue their program? Or are they just making a sound and fury that means nothing?

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