A patent abuse of power
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 02:19:00 11/06/2008
Filed Under: Euro Generals, Police, Graft & Corruption
When I read about the Philippine National Police official who was caught illegally carrying a huge sum of money in Moscow, I could not help but write this reaction. It was not a simple case of “lapse in judgment” on the part of the police official. It deeply upset me not only because it caused an international embarrassment for the Philippines and the Filipino people; it upset me more because this was a patent abuse of power by people in high positions. And the excuses given by his defenders were simply untenable.
In Filipino, the term for such excuses is “palusot.” If one “palusot” does not work, try another until people become addled with lies. So, we become a people constantly in search of truth but always coming up only with lies. And we will have more of these lies when the case of Joc-joc Bolante comes up for another investigation.
The experts in this practice of “palusot” are, tragically, the very people who are supposed to display a sense of moral leadership. But because of their feeling of impunity, they become myopic and cannot differentiate between truth and lies. Just listen to the pronouncements of Cabinet officials and you can only shake your head. But can we blame the police official for committing a “lapse in judgment” when he is only following the example of his commander in chief?
Can we blame lesser functionaries of corruption when there is corruption even in the judiciary? We, as a people, are not inherently corrupt. But it is becoming the norm of our society because of an unquenchable thirst for power and wealth.
We owe it morally to the future generations of Filipinos to totally stop corruption. If we can’t, we might as well throw away the books and let the law of the jungle prevail.
CECIL PERALTA (via email)
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