Sense of shame

Corruption, impropriety and abuse of public office are problems found in all countries. The difference lies in the way public officials react to criticism. The difference also lies in the way laws are enforced to deal with erring public officials.

The South Koreans are renowned for their keen sense of shame, with Cabinet members immediately assuming command responsibility and quitting, for example, over bridges that collapse even when they are not directly liable for the disaster.

Last month former South Korean president Roh Moo-hyun killed himself amid an investigation of reports that he accepted a $6-million bribe during his incumbency from a businessman.

The Americans are no strangers to racketeering, sex scandals and influence peddling. But those who are caught either resign or get punished.

In South Carolina, the betting is that it’s only a matter of time before Mark Sanford steps down as governor following a secret weeklong trip to Argentina for a tryst with his mistress. Sanford has promised to repay public funds used for the trip.

Last year Eliot Spitzer resigned as New York governor amid revelations that he was a regular client of a high-priced call girl service.

When resignation is not voluntary, a public official can be ousted, as in the case of Rod Blagojevich. The Illinois governor was booted out last January by the state Senate in a unanimous vote for trying to sell the Senate seat vacated by US President Barack Obama.

I’ve written about the way members of the British House of Commons have resigned, apologized or offered other acts of contrition amid a scandal involving their misuse of funds for maintaining second homes.

In Australia earlier this month, Joel Fitzgibbon resigned as defense minister following reports that an Army major general had been ordered to attend a meeting on defense health contracting with Fitzgibbon’s brother, who heads the private health insurance company NIB, and representatives of US health giant Humana.

Fitzgibbon also came under fire for failing to declare a night’s hotel accommodation paid for by NIB as well as two trips to China in 2002 and 2005 financed by a wealthy Chinese-Australian businesswoman accused of spying for Beijing. The woman, a family friend of the Fitzgibbons, denied the allegations of espionage.

In late March Fitzgibbon apologized for the trips and said his failure to disclose them was “very untidy” – but he refused to resign. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, facing the first major embarrassment of his government since assuming his post, supported Fitzgibbon.

On June 4, Fitzgibbon quit, saying he wanted “to protect the integrity of the Government.” He was replaced the next day by Sen. John Faulkner, the Cabinet secretary and special minister of state.

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In the Philippines, suicide is against the religion of public officials accused of wrongdoing. They don’t kill themselves; they kill their accusers. For good measure, they also kill witnesses as well as journalists reporting or commenting on the story.

When urged to resign or reminded about delicadeza, an erring official’s typical reaction is, “Why single me out? Everyone else is doing it.”

When the call to resign is made by fellow politicians or public officials, the typical reaction is, “You go first.”

Yesterday Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said Chairman Camilo Sabio of the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) may find himself detained at the Senate if he fails to account for his numerous foreign trips.

From 2006 to the present, Sabio was out of the country for 188 days on 23 trips. His subordinate Danilo Coronacion was overseas for 225 days on 27 trips during the same period. All these trips were financed by taxpayers.

The Senate should also demand a similar accounting from another jet-setting PCGG official, Commissioner Ricardo Abcede, who reportedly went AWOL for a month for an overseas trip.

But don’t expect congressional enthusiasm for this type of probe, despite its potential for publicity. Among the biggest jet-setters on public dime are lawmakers themselves.

How many Philippine public officials are shamed into quitting for accepting free trips overseas from private individuals or groups doing business with their offices? This is routine for lobbyists wooing lawmakers.

Benjamin Abalos was forced to step down as Commission on Elections chairman amid corruption allegations that included several trips to China bankrolled by ZTE Corp. But his resignation looked more like an effort to keep bigger personalities from being enmeshed in the scandal.

In this country, scandals over foreign trips involve not just public servants but also their spouses and soon-to-retire officials.

No one has apologized, resigned or offered to quit (fearing it might be accepted) for the questioning by Russian authorities of the Philippine National Police delegation to an international conference in St. Petersburg for failure to declare 105,000 euros. The one in charge of the money was PNP comptroller Eliseo de la Paz, who retired from the police service during the trip.

Among those in the delegation were the participants’ wives as well as the first lady of Camp Crame, PNP chief Jesus Verzosa’s wife Zeny. The PNP chief did not join the trip.

The official response to these scandals, which is to pretend that there is no scandal, is not surprising, considering that every public official is simply following the leader.

Yesterday Malacañang officials vowed that neither Influenza A(H1N1) nor critics could slow down the energetic President Arroyo from global sightseeing.

And in case you didn’t get the message, the President even made an unscheduled side trip to Hong Kong on her way back from her latest visits to Japan, Colombia and Brazil, all at Filipino taxpayers’ expense.

The Palace has even coined a cute slogan for the presidential trips: Miles for Progress. The trips will surely be among the accomplishments to be cited by the President in her final State of the Nation Address next month.

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Fitzgibbon, in his letter of resignation submitted to Rudd, said he was not satisfied that he had “entirely conformed with your ministerial code of conduct.”

In this country, the reaction to that letter would be: “What code of conduct?”

The Philippines is being left behind not only in national competitiveness and economic development but also in the way it deals with public misconduct.

There must be a correlation.