The Philippines will always be a corrupt country no matter who runs the government.
That the Philippines has been rated the most corrupt country in Asia is therefore not surprising.
We are all aware of corruption in all levels of the government.
The best example is the lamppost controversy.
We need an iron fist to root-out all the leeches that are sucking the blood both from the public and private sectors.
And corruption can not be solved overnight because it is deeply rooted in our culture.
Yet, before the coming of the Spaniards, Filipinos were honest in their dealings with each other and with foreigners.
An example is the practice of Filipinos paying religiously Chinese traders who left their wares on local shores, bartering them with materials of equal value, without anyone guarding them.
Overseas Filipino workers are noted for their honesty in foreign lands, and media often reports on individual cases of honesty among the people.
Thus, if corruption is perceived to be prevalent in the Philippines today, blame that on the lack of moral leadership and discipline among the political elite and not on our culture that venerates honesty. Winifredo P. Eribal
In a democracy, public officials are chosen by the people through a political exercise.
Freedom to choose is guaranteed by the Constitution.
Every citizen in our country has the right and freedom to select, during elections, honest, sincere and competent public officials who can be trusted in the service.
Thus, we should be prudent and wise enough in electing public officials.
It has been said that public service is a public trust.
We must therefore see to it that elected public officials in government are honest, reliable, God fearing and can be trusted in the service.
Note that these officials are accountable to the people for being paid with taxpayer’s money.
It thus behooves on them that they are honest, God fearing and not corrupt.
Indeed, graft and corrupt practices are in vogue this time among public officials.
It is evident that almost all agencies in the government today are afflicted with graft and corrupt practices because most of the officials and employees are dishonest and not God fearing.
Graft and corruption in the country drained and exhausted government funds.
Graft and corruption makes our country poor and underdeveloped compared with other countries.
There are many examples of corrupt practices among public officials in the government today.
Among these the misuse and malversation of public funds, embezzlement, overpricing of purchased materials, kickbacks in government projects, etc.
Thus, many completed government projects are substandard while others are being left unfinished for lack of funds due to graft and corruption.
And we can only rid government of this bad practice by electing public officials that are capable, honest, God fearing and can be trusted in the service—both in words and deed.
These are the right kind of officials needed for our country to become fully developed again.
