SSS, corruption, and surveys

The Philippines adopted the concept of the Social Security System from the United States decades ago. The basic flaw is that, for America, an affluent society, it was a messiah that delivered financial security to workers. But for the Philippines, a poor nation, has it evolved into a monster?

The culprit is perhaps corruption and political patronage. The SSS has been perennially mismanaged by political appointees who were either incompetent or corrupt, or both. For decades the issues have festered: allegations of SSS funds used as election campaign funds, and of the SSS milked by managers with scandalously high salaries (P116 million for 34 executives in 2014); failed investments (lost opportunity income of P198 million in 2014 based on idle assets of P18 billion with about 100 unleased condos); conflicting revenue and deficit data, hinting of cover-up.

It has reached a point where the very existence of the SSS is being questioned. The issue is no longer to increase or not to increase benefits for workers at a time when election funds are needed, but to abolish the pension fund altogether for being a milking cow of corrupt government officials. We, of course, have to weigh the evil of bureaucrats with benefits for workers—truly a dilemma.

It is strange that the SSS issue has surfaced during the election period, with a tug-of-war over funds. In truth, would it not be better to freeze all SSS fund transfers during elections, except of course the all-important monthly pensions? No matter what deficits have been accumulated through incompetence and corruption, just compensation must be given.

The SSS is both a messiah and a monster, and regulatory power can remove a shade of the evil in the name of the good.

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The corruption culture. In Thailand, the government supports sugar farmers with a subsidy that keeps the industry robust and vibrant. In the Philippines, the government fleeces sugar farmers with taxes and fees that keeps the industry forever receding. Thailand is a net exporter of sugar. The Philippines buys Thai sugar when there is a predicted shortage.

In the Philippines, corruption is not just an issue but also a culture. If everybody does it, there is a bandwagon effect. There are many government agencies that are corrupt from top to bottom. A case in point is the Environmental Management Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. Years ago, a woman appointed to head the EMB vowed to clean it up. She started firing and moving personnel around. One day, as she drove home, all four tires of her car fell off; the bolts had been loosened. She eventually resigned her post.

Another case in point is the Marcos-era National Media Production Center. Seeing film equipment blatantly stolen left and right, the head of the film division told the NMPC director to just abolish it. When word got around that the division may indeed be abolished, an employee went to the head’s office and, without a word, slammed a grenade on her desk. She was forced to resign out of fear.

Darkness overwhelms. Not a glimmer of light thrives.

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Surveys as propaganda tool. If you apply the laws of statistics, election surveys do not reflect the true picture because the sampling is too small. As many as 1,200 interviewees, or even 10,000, out of the voting population of millions, are never a reflection of reality. Qualitatively, surveys reflect a shade of the truth, but quantitatively, mathematically, they are useless.

Therefore, surveys are prone to be instruments of propaganda and manipulation for certain candidates. Everyone has his or her bias, even the owners of the survey firms. There is virtually no one who is not biased. A survey team can choose its samples from areas it feels are the turf of a favored candidate. And a candidate can clandestinely pay to be on top of a survey. No one can prove anything.

In spite of this information flaw, we see survey results published. Their purpose becomes an unfair psychological bandwagon edge for those at the top. When people see a candidate on top, they tend to believe it and ride on it. In this way, surveys “sway” people to this or that candidate. Surveys, whether conducted impartially or not, have the power to manipulate minds.

In the current US presidential election campaign, sudden movements in surveys can be seen. Rankings jerk a candidate up or down, depending on what he or she said during debates. Donald Trump’s brinkmanship has ironically earned him points.

In the Philippines, this is not so true. Election platforms are mostly ignored by an electorate that is 70 percent from the poor and uneducated class that prefers to vote for favorite actors. Candidates who have been of help to many people, even if they have an image of being corrupt, have an edge. That’s the politics of patronage. A corrupt messiah is preferred.

Bernie V. Lopez (eastwindreplyctr@gmail.com) has been writing political commentary for the last 20 years. He is also a radio-TV broadcaster, a documentary producer-director, and a former professor at Ateneo de Manila University.