Eradicating corruption? Start at the top, says MVP

Eradicating corruption in any organization starts with the person at the top, according to tycoon Manuel V. Pangilinan.

- By EJ MACABABBAD

“Start with big-ticket items. Forget the petty crimes first because that’s hard to deal with — it’s endemic within the system. When you start with the big amounts first, slowly work down to the middle and bottom layers," he said at yesterday's Philippine Media and Information Literacy Conference.

Reacting to the Second Congressional Commission on Education's recent finding that the number of functionally illiterate Filipinos doubled in the past 30 years, Pangilinan said, "It's a serious problem and it won't help that you reduce the budget for education and move it to somebody as you take money from the many and insert it into the pockets of the few."

Pangilinan lamented the "very high" temptation to accumulate wealth through shortcuts, but he reminded the corrupt that they would better sleep at night if they earned their riches honestly.

All are gatekeepers

With the democratization of media, the gatekeeping role previously accorded to traditional news outlets has become everybody's responsibility, according to media personalities.

At the conference, News5 anchor Ed Lingao said, "Everybody now is a publisher, a broadcaster, but, at the same time, responsibility is also democratized."