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Among the most depraved and ignorant arguments of the supporters of Marcos Jr. is that all politicians are corrupt, anyway. So let’s elect another and from the family of one of the most corrupt in history! Let them continue their massive corruption!
Here’s an example—comment of Maryann Bautista Majorca, posted in the Facebook Comments section of a Rappler photo series dated September 20, 2021:
“I went to St. Scholastica in San Fernando. Have you ever thought about what you have written? To end the CORRUPTION? Corruption will never end mga sisters it is in every country. Name a country na walang corruption? Yan ang pinaka mahirap sugpuin.”
The photo caption reads: “Nuns from St. Scholastica’s College in Malate conduct a noise barrage, calling on the Philippine government to end corruption. They also urge the people not to vote for President Duterte and his allies in the 2022 elections.”
https://www.facebook.com/rapplerdotcom/photos/a.317154781638645/4937681126252631
I would say, first, not all politicians are corrupt.
Second, there are many countries—not the majority—that practice high standards of public service. We want to become one of those countries.
Nordic countries are often cited as an example of successful anti-corruption programs and policies. At the core of their success is a value system that advances good governance and democracy. Those values include social cohesion, sense of the common good, openness and transparency in governance, and efficiency and equality in administering justice.
“Nordic countries have emerged over the years as ‘champions’ in the fight against corruption, representing an example to follow for countries struggling for a more transparent, equal, and just society. Moreover, they placed several times at the highest position of the Corruption Perception Index. These remarkable results are due to various factors common amongst all of them, namely, strong social cohesion and a sense of the common good that reduces the need for citizens and public servants to get involved in corrupt practices, openness and transparency as fundamental principles of conduct of public affairs, efficient and equal justice systems, and very thorough laws on asset disclosure of government officials.”
https://delna.lv/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/delna_corruption-1.pdf
— Transparency International (Sabiedrība par Atklātītbu Delna), “Empirical Study of Anti-Corruption Policies and Practices in Nordic Countries,” 2016
Singapore has often been cited as an exception to the high levels of corruption found throughout Southeast Asia. Its success in reversing what originally was a corrupt colonial society may be attributed to the transformative rule of its authoritarian leader, Lee Kuan Yew.
“The fact that corruption is not a way of life in Singapore is an indication of the effectiveness of the anti-corruption policy adopted by the People's Action Party (PAP) government after it took office in June 1959. The situation was completely different in colonial times. In fact, corruption was a part of the everyday lives of Singaporeans during the colonial period, especially after the Second World War [boldface mine] (Quah, 1988). Among the first decisive steps towards clean government was the establishment of the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) in the early 1950s as the independent anti-corruption agency, which was actually the first of its kind in the world (Quah, 2011, p. 133). …
“The newly-elected PAP government in the late 1950s was determined to eradicate corruption in Singapore in general and in the civil service in particular. [boldface mine] Its strategy for dealing with the problem of corruption emphasised the necessity of reducing both the opportunities and the need for corruption. From the beginning, top political leaders set themselves as role models for civil servants, divesting themselves of commercial ties, demonstrating high work ethics, avoiding any behaviour that could be construed as abuse of their office, and showing zero tolerance for corrupt behaviour. By personal example they created a fruitful soil for the atmosphere of honesty and integrity (Tan, 1999).
https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/67807/1/MPRA_paper_67807.pdf
—Ari-Veikko Anttiroiko, “Good governance in context: Learning from anti-corruption policies of Finland and Singapore,” MPRA: Munich Personal RePEc Archive, September 29, 2014
Drawing insights from the case studies of Finland and Singapore, the author of the above article argues that the key to successful anti-corruption efforts appears to have been a mutually supportive dynamic between cultural values on the one hand, and political leadership joined to strong, effective institutions on the other.
“The role of culture, political leadership and administrative machinery are in a generative relationship with each other, [boldface mine] and interestingly, their combinations differ considerably in the two cases discussed here. In Finland tradition and culture seem to be key to good governance. In addition, a strong and clean administrative machinery has become the backbone of the governance system, not the political leadership or even legal provisions as such. Politics is rather the weakest link in the chain. The case was more or less the opposite in Singapore in the 1950s and 1960s, when the new anti-corruption policy was in the making, for political leadership and the role of Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew in particular was decisive in the whole transformation process. [boldface mine] In Singapore the political leadership seemed to be the glue between cultural change and institutional arrangements, which made the dramatic improvement possible during a fairly short historical period (Quah, 2007, pp. 31, 36). Nevertheless it should be remembered that in Singapore the anti-corruption policy is backed up by a vigilant public that is ready to report suspected corruption (Quah, 2007, p. 36). As Tan (1999, p. 64) puts it, the cultural climate in Singapore is strongly opposed to corruption.”
Political will exercised from the top down has been a critical factor in the success of the anti-corruption programs of Singapore and Hong Kong.
“The most important reason for Singapore’s and Hong Kong’s successes in combating corruption is the sustained political will of their governments [boldface mine] as reflected in the cpib’s and icac’s per capita expenditures and staff-population ratios from 2008 to 2014. In that period, the icac had more personnel, a larger budget, a higher per capita expenditure, and a more favorable staff-population ratio than the cpib (see Table 2). But, as we will see, both the icac and cpib had higher per capita expenditures and more favorable staff-population ratios than the lead acas in India and the Philippines.”
https://direct.mit.edu/daed/article/147/3/202/27206/Combating-Corruption-in-Asian-Countries-Learning
—Jon S. T. Quah, “Combating Corruption in Asian Countries: Learning from Success & Failure,” Daedalus (2018) 147(3):202–215
The literature tells us that combating corruption successfully combines reformist efforts from the bottom-up and top-down.
We are not going to build a better society by voting corrupt leaders into positions of power. Corruption, of the massive, pervasive type that we find in the Philippines is not inevitable or ineradicable.
Reform is indeed possible, but it begins by electing reformist leaders in the first place and afterwards cooperating in well-conceived and effectively implemented reformist programs.
The Philippine electorate seems to assume that the corruption in our society is the norm in democracies. It isn’t. Many developed democracies while imperfect operate with a robust sense of integrity. Possibly, the majority of the Philippine electorate apparently has not experienced this.
At root of the support for the Marcos family is a defeatist attitude that condones massive corruption in the public sector and throughout Philippine society. It is impervious to well-founded moral appeals. This kind of attitude evinces MORAL ROT.
Some would even co-opt our lamentable state of affairs by themselves joining in the plunder. A significant driver of Marcos Jr. supporters appears to be their anticipation of sharing in the spoils of the Marcos Mafia state according to the social expectations of the “cacique democracy” or “patronage democracy” that has defined the practice of democracy in the Philippines since it was co-opted by the feudal elite beginning in the American period.
On the other hand, we are aware that some are unable to find gainful employment, so that trolling and the reprehensible like may be their best financial option available.
Truly, those who are suffering financial need must ask themselves if they have sought God’s help in their need and if they have done their part to cooperate with God’s assistance.
Public domain image
ReplyDeleteImage link:
https://pixabay.com/vectors/hand-handprint-fingerprint-stop-310884/
Gonzalinho
“The problem with the Philippines are Filipinos: the Filipinos who laugh at rape jokes, who applaud the killings, who threaten, insult, and demonize the critical, who can't abide facts and are unteachable, and who elect the same monsters every three years.”
ReplyDelete—Luis V. Teodoro, Twitter, April 15, 2019
Gonzalinho
LIKE LEADER, LIKE FOLLOWERS
ReplyDeleteInez Ponce de Leon
Philippine Daily Inquirer (April 6, 2022)
…bashing follows the format used by anti-Leni groups to absolve themselves of the responsibility of apologizing, or saying, at the very least, “Yes, I’m wrong.” It’s no surprise that many of them are also Marcos Jr. supporters, as they are simply following their leader’s example of excuses piled upon excuses to keep up a “pretty” front. The P203 billion owed to the government was first propaganda, then fake news, then now “just” P23 billion. The fake Oxford education was first real, then a negotiated diploma, then “not a big deal.” The absence from official Commission on Elections debates? He said he wanted to avoid bias, then he said he wanted to stay away from arguments.
…Marcos Jr. truly learned from his parents. Imelda was obsessed with showing the “pretty face” of the Philippines, no doubt to hide the fact that the Marcos regime jailed, tortured, or killed its opponents, and plunged the Philippines into poverty. To this day, Imelda still sees herself as some sort of star whose embellishments will supposedly bring beauty to the lives of the poor.
The Marcos Jr. campaign reflects the family’s propensity for applying cosmetic methods to “solving” deep-seated problems. Marcos Jr.’s followers, likewise, try to save face online in the most pitiful ways. For example, they post bombastically about the golden age of Marcos rule and then lash out at anyone who presents evidence to the contrary. Those who speak the truth are Red-tagged, labeled as being a particular political color, laughed at for quoting school lessons instead of the “real history of Tiktok.”
…Marcos Jr. inspires his followers to make excuses for bad behavior, blur the lines between right and wrong, excuse sins as “normal,” accept wrongdoing as “usual.” He robs people of their empathy; he inspires them to accept lies. It is this alienation of self from reality that actually breeds division. His call for “unity,” then, is his solution to a problem of his own making.
Even his wife and son are imprecise in their interview with Boy Abunda. Vote for him because he’s “mabait,” a statement that followed with some compliments that did not sound concrete, much less sincere. What does “mabait” even mean? Good? At home? Of course: he’s in his comfort zone, and he doesn’t have to interact with people he doesn’t know, a task he calls “a chore.” To him, people are things to be used, not citizens to be uplifted, not people to be inspired. “Mabait,” therefore, is meaningless.
…Given what he makes people do, a Marcos presidency would be one where right and wrong don’t have to be defined by any standard. Given what he inspires in his followers, a Marcos presidency would be one where people rely on someone else to make the country look pretty, absolving citizens of any responsibility to know more, change their lives, reexamine themselves, and actually participate in the process of democracy.
…The very thought of a Marcos presidency is disgusting.
https://www.pressreader.com/philippines/philippine-daily-inquirer-1109/20220406/281771337713935
It’s only too apparent at least one reason for the corruption of the Philippine electorate—that is, their generations-long propensity to install in power corrupt candidates—is moral rot. No doubt a significant proportion of the Philippine electorate co-opts the corruption of their elected officials and even identifies with them. It’s a form of identity politics at its worst.
Gonzalinho
A good proportion of the Philippine electorate do not know how to make good electoral choices. They elect liars, thieves, and murderers into power, and in doing so impoverish the nation for generations and generations. The trolls contribute very substantially to this process. They do the work of Satan.
ReplyDeleteGonzalinho
EMPATHY FOR PERSUASION, KNOWLEDGE AND ANALYSIS FOR UNDERSTANDING
ReplyDelete…Despite my machinations, my father didn’t budge. While he takes pride in my being a lawyer, he doesn’t subscribe to my views on democracy or the rule of law. My attempts to convert him have proven futile. He was not the type to be intimidated by someone whose Ivy League education he considers elitist.
For the last five years, I have been trying to change my father, convinced of the superiority of my personal views. Later, I realized that it was my own stubbornness and failure to acknowledge my father’s unique experiences that made me an ineffective advocate. So, again, I changed tack. This time, instead of trying to change my father, I began to change the way I approach our differences.
I discovered that the power of persuasion depends less on the facts at one’s disposal but more on one’s capacity for empathy, that is, the ability to understand what the other person feels, to look at an issue from their perspective, detached, at least to some degree, from one’s rational and emotional construct. Empathy begins with trying to figure out why rational people would hold a different opinion. What information do they care about? What life experiences might lead them to disagree with you?
My father had once recounted how life had been hard for him as a child. He, along with four siblings, grew up in the mountains of Camarines Norte. Their mother died when he was only 12 years old, and their father, a coconut farmer who lost his hearing at a young age, single-handedly raised them. He recalled how, under threat of force, members of a rebel group would take their hard-earned produce. To him, these rebels are nothing but terrorists who prey on the weak, and their suppression is fully justified.
…I was tempted to argue that the problem of the armed struggle in the Philippines is quite complex and cannot be resolved by force alone. But how was that going to sound, coming from someone who has never had to deal with such a traumatic experience? Imagining how terrified my father must have been during those times, I restrained myself. Instead, I listened, validated his emotions, and acknowledged the wrong that he suffered. I was surprised that the conversation ended with him being more open to admitting that addressing the root cause of the problem would more likely lead to lasting peace.
…Recently I learned that my father intends to vote for Leni Robredo after all because “she’s a Bicolana.” He thinks that if Leni wins, there’s a higher chance that the longstanding proposal for the construction of a highway directly connecting our small, obscure town to Naga City will finally get a green light. This highway is expected to facilitate trade and thus create jobs for our kababayan. One could say his reason sounds parochial. But it could also be interpreted as an expression of hope that someone who came from the same region can better empathize with its constituents.
…Indeed, the power of empathy is extraordinary. It leads to a higher chance of building trust and helps us relay information in a way that best reaches the other person. To be sure, it is easier to persuade someone who feels understood and acknowledged than someone who is made to feel stupid or evil for their views.
https://www.rappler.com/voices/thought-leaders/opinion-secret-persuasion-empathy-not-facts/
—Graciela Base, “[OPINION] The secret to persuasion is empathy, not facts,” Rappler.com, February 2, 2022
Graciela Base is a lawyer who currently works at an international organization. She earned her JD from the UP College of Law and LLM from Yale Law School.
We agree with the author if your objective is persuasion. However, if your objective is scientific understanding or ethical inquiry, then it’s necessary to look hard at the data, to strive for objectivity, and to acknowledge moral failings for what they genuinely are.
Paradoxically, the author herself advocates just such an approach—applied to the opposing sides of an argument and to multiple perspectives on an issue.
Gonzalinho
We should be asking what is profoundly wrong with a culture in which far too many people are willing to do anything, even the most evil deeds, for money, in total disregard of both truth and the country’s future. Poverty and need alone cannot account for it.
ReplyDeleteLuis V. Teodoro, @luisteodoro
Philippine Daily Inquirer (May 28, 2022)
Moral rot is indeed an important reason for our underdevelopment as a nation.
In no small part it was monstrously cultivated by the Marcos regime, the legacy of which is plunder and corruption.
Gonzalinho