Rewarding the pursuit of public good

Society richly rewards those who work hard to accumulate private wealth. But it never compensates those who risk life and limb to promote the public good.

In this country, the pursuit of private wealth is the path to improve one’s life. It is argued that the cumulative effect of all individual pursuits of fortune is to bestow collective benefit on the entire society. These individual pursuits of wealth result in competition. In turn, competition leads to job creation, lower prices, abundant variety of products, and improved quality of goods and services. These are the “trickle-down benefits” derived by society from each person’s pursuit of personal fortune.

But when the quest for personal riches becomes uncontrolled greed, society becomes a victim instead of a beneficiary. Unrestrained greed that damages society is committed in either of two ways: corruption in the government or fraudulent manipulation of the marketplace.

The reason that the Philippines has not achieved the full rewards of a land endowed with so much potentials—rich natural resources and talented people—is this: Uncontrolled greed dominates our society. Rampant corruption in the government and persistent market manipulation are committed by those who already possess so much political or economic power.

Rampant corruption in the government is reflected in the abuse of the pork barrel, smuggling, bid rigging, and widespread bribery. On the other hand, manipulation of the marketplace takes many forms. There are the recurring episodes of manipulation in the supply and prices of basic goods such as rice, flour, onions, cement, and gasoline. There is also the abuse of monopoly positions such as those committed by the suppliers of water, electricity, and telecommunications. Our country has one of the most expensive electricity rates and one of the slowest internet service in the whole of Asia.

We have all the laws that are aimed at preventing corruption in the government, such as mandatory bidding in contracts, transparency rules in transactions, and, recently, freedom of information in the executive branch. Laws are also in place that impose criminal punishment for graft and corrupt practices in the government.

We have all the laws that are needed to prevent fraud in the marketplace, such as the prohibition against monopolies, rules against price fixing, and ban on unfair trade practices. The recent creation of the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC)—which is tasked to stop anticompetitive business tactics—is a huge step toward stopping fraud and unfair practices in the marketplace. The PCC Law criminally punishes those who enter into anticompetitive agreements or who abuse their dominant economic positions.

However, we may have all the perfect laws that prevent and punish dishonesty in the government and in the market, but these statutes are useless if witnesses do not come out to testify and expose wrongdoing.

I previously lamented the refusal of Congress to pass then Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago’s bill aiming to reward whistle-blowers of government corruption by giving them 15-35 percent of recovered funds (“Reward a criminal to catch a criminal,” Opinion, 5/23/16).

I equally lament the lack of any law that rewards whistle-blowers who expose fraudulent manipulators in the economy and gives incentives to lawyers who pursue these public interest cases. The Philippines should learn from the United States, which had an antitrust law as early as 1890 but still had great difficulty going after market manipulators. It was only in 2010, after enacting a law (Dodd-Frank Act) that rewards whistle-blowers and their lawyers with 10-30 percent of recovered funds, that the United States started achieving sustained victories against fraudulent manipulators in its business and financial markets.

The Philippines relies on unrewarded patriots and martyr-wannabes to expose corruption in the government and fraud in the marketplace. It’s time it rewarded those who sacrifice their lives and their careers in the pursuit of public good.

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