'Highly systemic organized crime' against Filipinos

Corruption has been with us for decades. It is a malignant curse, draining public funds and dulling the outrage of those who have lived with it for generations.

- 

It is a national cancer, causing widespread suffering when government projects fall below quality standards or, worse, are nonexistent - such as flood control infrastructure.

For so long, people have grumbled about corruption, found some humor in it, and too often accepted it as part of our culture or an unavoidable feature of public life. But at last week's Kapihan sa Manila Hotel, that sense of resignation was met with a call to arms.

Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong, Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) president Arsenio Evangelista, and retired Court of Appeals Justice Alfredo Ampuan were our three guests who did not mince words. Their message was clear: corruption is not random, is not petty, and not inevitable. It is systemic, organized, and corrosive-and unless Filipinos themselves take a firm stand on accountability and transparency, no reform will ever succeed.

Mayor Magalong, known for his advocacy of integrity in public service through the "Mayors for Good Governance" movement, was blunt. Corruption, he said, is nothing less than "a massive and highly systemic organized crime." He recalled how his push for clean governance in 2019 met resistance and apathy from citizens who had grown so accustomed to graft that it seemed normal.