In the first two words of the title there is no connect between these two human behaviour of valor and its absence; not or, or an and/or; just a comma separates them. When photos are put side-by-side of two people taken at eternal time, it should mean no connection. Separateness should be understood. Take a series of two photos: Jose Rizal, Erap Estrada; Jose Abad Santos, Renato Corona; Cory Aquino, Gloria Arroyo; Winston Churchill, Adolf Hitler; General McArthur, General Yamashita, etc .
No connection indeed, but public cognition tells what the public saw which might be entirely different to what ethics or the law, or courts of law might see. The verdict rendered before the bar of public opinion could be instantaneous because of matters of public knowledge. The judgment will be definitely faster and less faulty than one say, rendered by a court of law. What to the public is simple might be a complex thing to a court of law.
To a resident of Payatas and/or to a UP PhD. cognition and foreknowledge can result into instant judgment. Show them the photos of Rizal and Erap, both Ateneans in their formative years and there is high probability of congruence (sameness) of opinion about who has the virtue of heroism or absence of it.
The above musings is not truly the point of this article. Rather, it is to think more deeply about the recently concluded impeachment of a chief justice. Without being personal and subjective, it is an attempt to unravel what the public instantly saw— which the Senate jurors took 44 hearings days costing millions of pesos, to see—the seldom seen anatomy of corruption that brought about impeachment of the third highest official of the country.
What the public saw is seldom seen, often ignored anatomy of corruption
Public opinion surveys seem to support its abomination. Gut feeling is another word for it. However, behind gut feeling is a complex of factors that end up as conclusion or judgment from hearsays and common knowledge which therefore, are unacceptable before a court of law.
Putting heroism in the contrasting background justifies making corruption dead center because it seems to thrive in abundance among developing and economically struggling countries.
To us Filipinos the wealth and proliferation of corruption facts and statistics can give readers a headache. It seems easy, writing about it without internet research. The hard thing is to theorize about corruption’s probably unwritten anatomy.
To be a citizen, much more a businessman, at most a bureaucrat or government official, one easily learn the simple truth. In every transaction, corruption is about two parties indulging in the crime: the giver and taker or receiver. That is, a person in an illegal exchange for something of value gives or is coerced to give while another receives or is persuaded to receive. It is a setting where both parties are subject to the vagaries of the individual’s inclination and opportunity.
Even in offices offering no opportunity for corruption persons with inclinations are likely to be creative to practice it. Those not so inclined even in the presence of opportunity are not likely to succumb to it. Inclination and opportunity have a positive correlation to the presence and magnitude of corruption. More of the two means more corruption. Discouraging inclination and elimination of opportunity can be a workable preventive measure.
At another angle or perspective corruption also implicates leadership. Leaders may corrupt his followers and vice versa as when soft hearted but greedy leader who tend follow his followers got enticed to be like them.
Banishment from public office and lengthy Imprisonment can be the most effective curative measure. Better still the law should base the length of jail terms to amount of the loot. If charges of plunder starts with pesos 50 million, it might be more cautionary and scary if imprisonment penalty is 10 years for every peso million illegally looted or denied the peoples’ treasury. A peso billion loot will mean 10,000 years in jail, too long a stay and even impossible in five star hospitals. A peso 10 million loot begets 100 years in jail can be the possible cut off point of corruption. Hara-kiri becomes then a better option for the corrupt riding cars with Nos. 1 to 12 plate numbers.
The above dealt more with corruption physiology than anatomy which should, if taken altogether are not what the people saw. Anatomy can be objectively dissected by disregarding WHO the corrupt person is and concentrating WHAT the corrupt person is in terms of known elements (metaphor of human organs ?). And there are six to think about:
FIRST IS family upbringing. A look into the family background can reveal positive or negative correlation with corruption tendencies. I recall the lady auditor from Quezon Province who was promoted to COA Commissioner after her harrowing harassment anti-corruption experiences. She said they were poor and her policeman father told them not to steal or feed their children from stolen money and that they should be honest in their life.
Children receive in general UNIQUE upbringing from their parents be they teachers, policemen, businessmen, politicians or religious leaders. Santol trees will bear no Sampaloc fruits so the saying goes. Neighbors and friends could have an inkling of an individual’s potential for corruption. What they may see could be the real thing.
SECOND is educational background. There are only few (if any) school acclaimed to be a factory of corrupt graduates. It is because the good graduates always outnumber the turned felons. Moreover, the assumption prevails that corruption exists among mostly the educated and the mis-educated. For some reason graduates bring credit or otherwise to their schools . Take four Filipino guys sharing formative years at different times in the same school. One became a national hero, the second guy a president, the third a high government influential, and the fourth the head of the judicial branch. The people or the knowledgeable public by their photos will see them for what they are, even without the judgment of a court of law. So unlike the law, peoples’ verdict may be harsh but it is accurate more often than not.
THIRD is work experience. It is more the kind of work whether teaching, lawyering, public service, business, caring for the sick, civic work, etc. which predisposes the worker to corruption. Work and occupations are not so equal in preventing or spawning corruption. Some even nurtures corruption into a personal addiction. It is so unbelievable and so uncanny that business men big or small escape the stigma of corruption when big corruption may have been instigated and kept alive by big businesses. When employees of an organization have long and very deep work experience in corruption, it is not farfetched for people to see and conclude that its leaders failed to abate, instead willingly abetted corruption.
FOURTH is political affiliation. Political persuasion or affiliation is appreciated by the kind of political party membership or association of the corrupt individual. Corruption implicates the nature and quality of the political party system of the country.
Among the democracies as dominant parties Canada has the Progressive Conservatives, the Liberals and the National Democrats; Australia has Labor, Liberals, and Democrats; USA has the Republicans and the Democrats; while UK has the Conservatives and Labour. In these countries one has to be inductive (specify) rather than deductive (generalize) to ferret out corruption at the individual level.
In a very general way the people of these countries had weighed and formed over long periods of time what they see as corrupt politicians coming from which party. The distinction deserved of first world countries political parties are their sticking with over centuries of practice to recognizable positions in the left, center or the right paths of the ideological pendulum. Their political platforms are either pro-poor or pro-rich; pro-change or pro-status quo, liberty over control or control over liberty, and other intricacies involving varied means of allocating wealth and moral values in society.
Both in underdeveloped and developing countries where political parties come and go like a thief in the night; where a corrupt prime minister or president can easily dissolve or create his own political party of patronage, corruption walks and runs abreast with the times. Where plunder-scale thievery is a practice of party leaders, the party’s political platform is better left vaguely written, undiscussed and eventually forgotten.
The 2011 report of the Transparency International on the VERY CLEAN to the HIGHLY CORRUPT nations listed the Philippines as 129 of the 183 countries. No. 1 was New Zealand and Somalia the last at 182. Towards the bottom (highly corrupt) the Philippines had bested all except Myanmar (180) in the Asean group. In the last three years or so, it should be underscored that Philippines had climbed significant notches towards the VERY CLEAN lower numbers.
FIFTH is Religion. Can the public really see it, if by knowing an individual’s religious affiliation whether there is a taint of corruption? Is it a function of number of devotees or believers? That is, the more they are in number the likelihood of more corrupt members; or is it the “newness” of the religious sect; or malpractice of their dogma. This remains conjectural unless an in-depth study is done. Could the God fearing and righteous be more corrupt than the atheist or agnostic? A case of numbers again, may be.
SIXTH is tribal origin. Tribalism can be one of the by-ways by which the public may view corruption. Dominance in the public service by people coming from the incumbent President’s tribe may have been significantly diminished over the years as a result of education, cultural assimilation and advances in science and technology. Unexpectedly, Chinese surnames cut across tribal agglomerations thus partly obliterating tribal or regional groupings in the public service.
This piece in the end is merely theorizing that the cognitive ability of the public when they judge and conclude about the corruption of a public servant have sociological bases and should not be ridiculed or disregarded. If what the people saw is a meek angel, no amount of lawful demonizing can put sharp horns and an arrow headed tail to her image.
Finally, this piece may have touched only the surface of the issue, but hopefully, what the people will see is not something superficial.
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