The ongoing scandal of the ghost flood control projects made me recall the words of the great Saint Augustine. Though lengthy, it deserves to be quoted in full:
“In the absence of justice, what is sovereignty but organized brigandage? For, what are bands of brigands but petty kingdoms? They are groups of men, under the rule of a leader, bound together by a common agreement, dividing their booty according to a settled principle. If this band of criminals, recruiting more criminals, acquires enough power to occupy regions, to capture cities, and to subdue whole populations, then it can with fuller right assume the title of kingdom, which in the public estimation is conferred upon it, not by the renunciation of greed but by the increase of impunity.
“The answer which a captured pirate gave to the celebrated Alexander the Great was perfectly accurate and correct. When the king asked the man what he meant by infesting the sea, he boldly replied, ‘What you mean by warring on the whole world? I do my fighting on a tiny ship, and they call me pirate, you do yours with a large fleet, and they call you Commander.” (Augustine, City of God, Part I, Book 4, Chapter 4).
By way of a commentary, let me mention some points to consider. The quote mentions an organization of robbers. Indeed, rarely is theft performed by an individual, much more so if it is widescale thievery. In the current problem, corruption is already systemic. There is a team which gets the large part of the booty, namely the senators and representatives, contractors, and Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) district engineers. But there are also some who get a smaller share, but who are aware that they are tiny figures inside a grand picture. These may include the working staff. In today’s context where the battle of narratives is fought in social media, part of the team would include the paid trolls.
The term bands of brigands can also refer today to family connections. For example, one senator has a brother-in-law who is contractor who often gets the projects in his region. An even closer connection is between a senator and his father/contractor. Needless to say, the father gets most of the projects while the legislator tries to appear naïve and say, “I cannot choose the members of my family.”
This leads us to the second point. Saint Augustine does not mention it but if there are different organizations of robbers, these can be warring against each other. In the current situation, the Marcos and the Duterte camps are hurling accusations against each other. One camp says that the other camp is the bigger thief. A discerning observer would notice that some explanations would amount to complaints about being singled out, not really a substantiated defense of one’s innocence.
Let us go to a third point, where Augustine quotes a pirate’s defense, saying that someone who fights from a small ship is called a pirate while the someone with a fleet under his command is called a commander. In other words, both the petty and the big-time thieves are guilty. But the former is caught and imprisoned while the latter is deemed honorable. This could summarize the feelings of ordinary Filipinos today.
But let us go into deeper introspection. Are we the pirates who are envious of and who are complaining against those who command fleets? To put it in plain words, are we also guilty but on a smaller scale? Do we feed the system by our bribes and our solicitation of donations from dubious sources? Indeed, the answer can be in the affirmative.
But I refuse to believe that majority of Filipinos are guilty even if only in a smaller scale. How many times have we heard of taxi drivers returning valuables left in the cab by their passengers? How many have known labanderas who return money left in our pockets? Such incidents are common. Thus, contrary to popular opinion, I believe that the ordinary Filipino is a person of dignified honesty.
But what about bribery, which is pretty common in the bureaucracy? Here, it is important to make a distinction between being guilty of bribery and being a victim of extortion. (I always make this distinction when I have to make a judgment in the confessional box.) I am not naïve to say that bribery does not exist. But oftentimes, the poor ones are the victims. The dishonest ones would purposely delay granting of permits, licenses, and the honest ones have no choice but to pay.
Lastly, I go back to the first sentence of the quote. Mga kurakot, ikulong na yan. Otherwise, this nation is being led by a band of thieves.