when greed becomes a way of life

when greed becomes a way of life

it's not an uncommon proposition that in order to eradicate corruption
in the philippines, you've got to kill everyone in the country above
the age of 18. during the spring and the summer, that includes my
mother. corruption had become so prevalent even 22 years after marcos
that it had assumed the status of a birthright among those in power.
to question corruption in the philippines is like a silly form of
inutile outrage. so silly that to cry foul to a government official
committing graft right before your very eyes had become one stupid
exercise.

stupid because you'll end up stupider than the stupid government
official you are trying to catch. stupid because in the eyes of the
public, you are catching a government official who only does what he
is in power for, which is steal from government coffers. after all,
conventional wisdom says, who doesn't do it anyway?

it becomes even stupider when you try to bring someone to court for,
what else, stealing money from the already bankrupt government. it had
become so ridiculous in the eye of the filipino that such an act would
only be time wasted and, ironically, even embolden those who have
assumed the habit of getting kickbacks without even trying. such is
the fate of such idiots like salonga, guingona, cory aquino and the
others who, even in the last stages of their long lives have enlisted
themselves to the most useless of useless causes. bringing gloria
arroyo to answer for her greed.

because according to popular filipino wisdom, why change a government
with a new one since the next government will be just as, if not more
corrupt, than the last? it makes perfect sense since arroyo is
preceded by estrada and estrada is preceded by ramos. who would argue
with with the fact that greed begets greed? corruption had become so
embedded in the filipino political culture that a government official
is corrupt unless proven otherwise. besides, nobody has declared noli
de castro graft-free. nor the senate president, much less the speaker
of the aptly named Lower House.

so the current "political noise", as the most corrupt of them all has
called the present situation, is nothing but the filipino's way of
saying we are not all corrupt after all. some will stand up to say
enough of too much corruption. it's time to "moderate the greed". but
as past experience would tell us, this political noise will eventual
die down and gloria arroyo will survive another test to her stellar
presidency. thanks to our adequately compensated and pathologically
loyal generals. whoever said crime does not pay must not have lived in
the philippines.

i don't know but i am still hoping that corruption is not
intrinsically filipino. that maybe it is not genetic and there might
be some hope for rehabilitation. maybe putting arroyo to jail now, or
after 2010 without the possibility of parole would be a good start.
but of course, the next president would be just as corrupt isn't it?
then jail him too for heavens sakes. and the next, and the next, and
the next until they all get it.

well, it's really wishful thinking. as filipino wisdom goes, there's
really nothing we can do.

until we all die doing nothing.