Living Breathing Corruption In the Philippines

A very long time ago I worked in a Chinese-owned Manila firm. It was a willing favorite milking cow of crooked cops and crooked government inspectors. I once talked with one such crooked inspector about corruption – yes, corruption was there, has been there, since forever.

He was apologetic, perhaps hypocritically, about his own corruption. His excuse was that he had to “go with the flow.”

“What would be your solution to erase corruption?” I asked.

“Shoot everybody in government and let the so-called do-gooders take over.”

“That would mean shooting you, too.”

“That’s true. But catch me first. Can you? Can anyone?”

That, in essence, is a microcosm of the sad state of Philippine affairs.

Fred Natividad
Livonia, Michigan