Becoming a scammers paradise

The Philippines has long been known and awarded as a tourism favorite, more particularly our world-famous islands and beaches. Today, we are rushing to be known as a scammers paradise. We were never first as a tourist paradise nor, today, as a scammers paradise. Still, we caught up when Boracay and Palawan made brilliant leap frogs to global attraction. It looks that way, too, with scamming opportunities in the Philippines.

To be among the top in the world requires a lot of preparation, deliberately intended or not. The point is that becoming a paradise for tourists or for scammers is not possible without first establishing a necessary environment and its attendant facilities. We saw that with tourism. We had to wait for the crucial upgrades of Boracay and Palawan, not only in hotel and entertainment facilities but also the ease of getting there from all over the world.

Thank goodness that we had natural creation and the cultural virtue of hospitality. Creation gave us so much natural beauty that it is only natural for Boracay and Palawan to land in the global map as clear favorites. Beyond that, new beach and forest resorts are starting to open up that will truly qualify the Philippines to be a multi-faceted tourism icon.

To be hospitable to scammers also needs a lot of preparation. We do not have any favors from creation this time; we need to do it ourselves and we are succeeding. Scamming on a national and global scale does not just happen. Many critical factors have to be in place. Sad to say, they are all falling in line,

We had nature in her finest expressions of beauty to usher in tourism. For scammers, we had to create the equivalent of a natural environment that would welcome scammers. The environment has to be tolerant of dishonesty because scamming is driven by dishonesty. If anyone wants to test this principle out, he can check with the most honest or least corrupt countries in the world to discover that scamming is not a national problem. Simply said, scammers are not welcomed by the state or the people.

By the way, scammers are not new, only the term to define them today. Scamming is not just a technology, it is a wrongful act first and foremost. It is dishonesty manifesting itself in mostly an electronic manner. Scamming is plain lying and stealing. Scammers have to lie in order to steal.

When lying and stealing are mentioned, many Filipinos take them to be politically colored. It is amusing at what length we will rationalize supporting or voting for liars and thieves so that we will feel no guilt. Or we justify it by saying that politicians lie and steal as a matter of survival, or political convenience. We put so many thoughts and words to camouflage lying and stealing, liars and thieves, because we all know they are wrong.

In our homes, we teach our children to be honest. I know we do. I know our children who tell lies and steal from us are admonished, even punished. I know, too, that schools teach our children to be honest, to not lie and steal. Consequently, lying and stealing in school lead to painful consequences, including expulsion.

Our religions do the same thing – teaching honesty as a cherished virtue and condemning lying and stealing, even incorporating them in the Ten Commandments.

Then, we eventually reach a most important and crucial stage in life where most of us spend our greatest number of years. I refer to the workplace, be it in the farms, in the fishing communities, or the company premises. The workplace is quite firm in its demand for honesty and even firmer in applying the consequences for lying and stealing. Businesses, big or small, collapse when lying and stealing are part of the workplace. Who and what reputable and legitimate employer will hire a liar and a thief?

Homes, schools, churches, and workplaces – all for honesty, all against lying and stealing. I will mention the last environment – the law. The law prohibits lying and stealing. Furthermore, the law is stricter, in its intent and design, on liars and thieves among public officials and personnel.

Apparently, our homes, our schools, our churches, our workplaces, and our legal system have allowed dishonesty to creep in, not just as exceptions but more than that. It begins with the inability to discern honest from dishonest, then proceeds to accepting the dishonest as much as the honest. An environment of tolerance to corrupt people and practices allows scamming to become a national concern. Nations where dishonesty is tolerated or rampant actually encourages fraud and scams to become nation-wide.

An international watchdog called Transparency International tries to measure corruption (dishonesty) levels by nation, using the same criteria for all. Countries who score the lowest in corruption are not as vulnerable to scamming as countries who are among the more or most corrupt. The Philippines has steadily been scoring higher in corruption scales, and consequently becoming more attractive to internet fraud and scams.

I feel sorry most of all for private business. As I mentioned above, the workplace is, in my opinion, the last strong bastion for honesty. The workplace goes beyond teaching to consistently imposing accountability and penalties. Homes, schools, churches, and the law may try but are not as effective or consistent as the workplace. It is not just reputation that is prejudiced by dishonesty in the workplace, it is the money that keeps business alive.

We gloss over the issue of corruption, maybe because we have been concerned about it for so long. But what we cannot kill will grow, or emerge in a new form. This is not about politics, this is about honesty and whether we want our personal, social, religious, educational and economic space to embrace it. We kill it, or we watch how dishonesty will invite more liars and thieves to dominate our lives.