Can we eradicate corruption?

EYES WIDE OPEN

- IRIS GONZALES

Corruption is ultimately paid for by the poor, Pope Francis once said. We remember his words as we marked International Anti-Corruption Day yesterday, Dec. 9.

It's true in the past, and still true now. It's true in rich countries and in the poorest of nations. Indeed, it is the poor who suffer the most because of corruption.

It's true everywhere and especially true in this nation of 120 million. More than 20 million Filipinos—that's a significant number by any indication—still live below the poverty line.

It's no surprise. Corruption in this country is impossibly entrenched and, as so many observers have pointed out, we seem to be losing the battle against corruption in recent years.

I had a different topic in mind for today's column. I was not planning on writing about corruption again. Never mind that Dec. 9 was supposed to be Anti-Corruption Day.

After all, I had written about corruption many times over the past 20 years I've been working as a journalist. The problem is still as bad as ever and there seems to be no end in sight.

But it is precisely because corruption continues to exist that the fight against it must continue. Thus, here I am again writing about corruption.

During the administration of Rody Duterte, I've heard horror stories from tycoons and businessmen of how brazen corruption was—from supply deals to flood-control projects; from local government permits to the construction of government buildings; from ghost projects to ghost employees. We are hearing the same things again now.

You name it, the Philippine bureaucracy has it.

Colonial roots

I often wonder how did we get here. Was corruption bequeathed to us by our colonizers?