Imported Graftbuster

It looks as if a race cannot save its own breed from the onslaught of greediness but it's a fact that someone from another nation was called upon to fix a problem lingering for decades.

Call it an act of desperation, call it an insult to the Filipino pride but Tony Kwok's reign could be a solution to the woes in the Philippine government whose graftbusters were inutile or simply unarmed to fight the chronic graft and corruption practice in the Philippines. He was straight talking ("This (country) is one of the most corrupt in the world"). And he meant it. What a huge slap on my face as a Filipino who lives in the country Tony Kwok hails from. While Hong Kong people are typically not fond of sidebar stories Inquirer, ABS CBN or GMA 7 are used to feature and capture the hearts of my soft-hearted countrymen, once any of my officemate will read this news will have an effect on how I am portrayed not as a colleague but as a foreigner working in their country.

To me, the move is a sign of a country battling a chronic problem that no one in the government is capable of doing so. Previous appointments of anti corruption czar, Ombudsman, lifestyle checks and similar moves were insufficient to combat what the United Nations Development Program's estimate of 13% of the yearly budget (1.8 billion dollars) goes to the pockets of unscrupulous officials, notably in the Bureau of Internal Revenue and Bureau of Customs, two of the biggest income generating agencies in the government as well as congressmen who publicly clamor for countrywide development fund more popularly known as pork barrel -- an unusual arrangement that meant the nation's legislators wanting to get a piece of the pie to serve their constituents better (while to me it's more of gaining personal favor in preparation for the next political move). Bidding process on public works are often, if not always, marred with irregularities and whose procedures normally grant a padded budget for a project, bringing public money to the hands of the initiating official and project contractors.

When I was younger, I had a neighbor who works for the Public Works department. Underneath his house are steel pipes, apparently stolen from the office warehouse with a purpose of installing water system in our neighboring hinterlands. And while I take the jeepney ride to downtown Davao, mobile police checkpoints near Ulas are notorious for mulcting logging truck drivers in an effort to allow the timber, whether cut legally or illegally in the forests of Bukidnon or the outskirts of Calinan, reach their destination.

The public has taken corruption as an almost no cure cancer in the society that drives almost everyone to become part of it. A childhood friend and neighbor works for a government office because she is known as a die hard supporter of a high ranking local official. With her influence, she was able to bring two other friends to work with her with less efforts. My sister who is a public school teacher used to experience bribing a school division official with a bottle of wine to help her secure a teaching post after being failing to land the job for years despite her credentials. Still, others who know nobody in government agencies are at the mercy of these corrupt officials, who are asking for favors, sexual or material just to grant their wishes.

It is one reason Filipinos would prefer to go abroad than stay home and die gritting their teeth in cursing the government for being inept, inefficient and harboring arrogant people, depriving the public with basic services. Look at any government agency: public hospitals don't have enough skilled manpower to man the premises and affordable medicine is not readily available. Government fire trucks are often less serviceable than their private counterparts, fire hoses are worn out and firemen do not have decent protective suits. Coast guard and the Navy got involved in allegedly selling oil supplies instead of patrolling the high seas. Forest rangers are ill-equipped to drive illegal loggers, who themselves have strong connections to municipal officials and police protectors. School building backlogs pile up year after year even if the Department of Education gets one the biggest share in fiscal budget; school teachers who try to solicit help from parents while at times digging in their own pockets get accused of illegal collection of PTA fees from school children. The president herself gets accused of coddling big time corrupt officials in her effort to reward them for supporting her during the elections.

The sight of public officials in their handsome smiles boarding the luxurious sedans, with a convoy of escorts evading traffic signs make things worse. The list goes on and on.

As we see, corruption is what the country needs to address first and foremost as this is the cause of a typical Filipino's misery. And if we Filipinos cannot fix it among ourselves, then we should not be ashamed to hire someone else from a different race to do the job. If it is the culture of corruption that blinds Filipinos and prevents us from solving this ever worsening problem, then let Mr Kwok do the job. To quote n upbeat President saying "...with our political will and working together, what Hong Kong was able to do in seven years, we could perhaps be able to do in three years." She added: "We shall win this war against corruption." Wishful thinking. I am fed up with her words. No offense to the opposite sex but I think Gloria Macapagal Arroyo does more talk and less work.

Just like our athletes who need foreign coaches to put their game to the next level, the same is true with our drive to eradicate the problem of graft and corruption. This used to be unnecessary but Filipino patience has worn out and before it becomes a collective anguish that translates to revolt, better try other means to solve the problem. Otherwise, the Arroyo would suffer the same fate as her predecessor, Erap Estrada.