Culture of corruption

As I was jogging near the Rizal Park the other day, I saw a large white banner with the words “Huwag kang magnakaw!” (Thou shall not steal), largely written on it. It was another of those socio-political outcries, I thought to myself, amidst yet another allegation of corruption currently being hurled against Vice President Jejomar Binay and his family.

It was one more of those anti-corruption campaigns, just like all the other anti-corruption campaigns we had witnessed in the past. And though it was merely a simple white banner, with the quote being directly lifted from the Bible’s Ten Commandments, it was enough to keep my thought process in sync with my feet as I ran against the cold January morning breeze.

Thinking about it, the Philippines, a predominantly Catholic nation, is also predominantly corrupt. And with signs such as “beware of pickpockets” and “beware of snatchers” being staples in a lot of public places, stealing may just be an everyday culture, extending from the government leaders at the top of the food chain down to the hungry people at the bottom.

I remember how back in my frosh year in La Salle, several blockmates of mine have been victimized by snatchers and pickpockets along Taft and in the LRT and MRT. Back then, whenever I ponder on why petty crimes such as these occur on a daily basis, I think of hunger, urgent need, and the desperation of some people as the most probable reasons. And being the sheltered person that I am off of an exclusive grade school and high school education, I comforted myself with the idea that despite being in a nation filled with corruption, this culture of theft could not infiltrate my social circle. However, the real world was never as righteous and exclusive as I thought it to be.

I have been in La Salle for four years now, more than enough time to immerse myself into a lot of the different courses, organizations, and activities that the University has to offer. And through these years, I have made myself aware that despite the philosophy of love and kindness that is inherent to a Christian education, the duality of nature that is the good and the bad can still catch up with us. With the prevalent culture of theft and corruption in our society, I have started to think to myself that alongside the future leaders, the future thieves and swindlers of the nation may also be sitting in class with me. Not that I think that education in itself yields direct bad results, but I think that the balance between the good and the bad exists regardless of what background we come from, just like how weeds could still grow in a beautiful garden. From instances of student organizations or student groups magically losing funds, to those fellow students who recruit others for a networking scam, somehow it became clearer to me that even in a university that preaches faith, service, and communion, the culture of corruption can still find ways to thrive. And even in this privileged and respectable environment, it is still hard to differentiate the sheep from the wolves and the wolves from the sheep.

As I see myself and a lot of other students unknowingly allow ourselves to be preyed on in this culture, I also thought of how much time I said yes to being shortchanged, especially inside the University. How many times have I chosen the easy way out, permitting myself to be robbed of a quality education by opting to enroll in “sure-pass” professors, rejoicing with excessive free cuts and excessive film viewings? Quite a number of times, frankly, and by doing so, I realized that I have allowed myself to be corrupted. Or maybe, I have also corrupted myself in the process.

Even through intangible things such as these, it occurred to me how this culture of corruption is very broad, far-reaching, and extensive. And as such, I think that if we accept that being shortchanged is part of the system, we say yes to that culture that plagues us all.

Little do we know, but in one way or another, the thieves are not just the corrupt politicians who wear fake smiles on television or the snatchers that pester the streets of Taft Avenue. At times, the thieves are also among us, within our circle, completely swallowed by our nation’s culture of corruption and theft.

We don’t know. But they are among us. At some point, we may have also been our own thieves. Nevertheless, in this culture, the least we can do is to not corrupt our selves.