Corruption in democracies/autocracies

It is comforting and impressive that the interest and attention of the majority of the Filipino people in the DPWH corruption scandal is sustained and unwavering. It has been more than seven months since its unraveling and while some DPWH officials have been arrested and jailed, no incumbent senator or congressman has been charged and imprisoned. This have both disappointed and whetted the expectations of the people, and the main and social media are awash with news, opinions, and suggestions for the government to do more to ferret out the truth and the guilty. These are good signs for Philippine democracy and the future of good governance in the government.

Corruption happens in all forms of government and more so in the absence of a government. It is part of the evolution of society when families started living together as a community. When relationships expanded beyond the family, rules of behavior and norms of conduct with other people were established/agreed upon for the sake of peaceful co-existence. These became the moral and ethical values that have to be followed for order in the community. This was augmented by the belief in a God that had set order in the world, and subsequently in organized religion that codified these desirable moral values.

Early human history had powerful autocratic rulers who considered themselves gods and exempted themselves from these moral tenets, but demanded that their subjects follow them. They were the early corrupt officials and they were unstoppable, except by their conscience or fear of a greater god. As the communities grew bigger and the economic well-being of the people outside the families of the rulers got better, aided by the realization that moral and ethical behavior improves the peace, order, and welfare of the people, democratic concepts of freedom, liberty, justice, equality, and the will of the people gained ground.

It is only in the 20th century that corruption in public office started to be widely reported and become a scandal. Corruption in the 18th century was kept secret until the culprits died and it became history. The impetus for reporting corruption was the advent of news media and its importance to economic progress and development. The modern economy needs increasing capital and corruption diverts/hoards capital making it unproductive. Corruption also kills creativity and initiative as it rewards evil doing. So, democratic countries with free enterprise economies have to fight corruption to promote progress and higher living standards for the people. This is the virtuous cycle as opposed to the vicious cycle of corruption. In this century, the fast-paced development of the information technologies is the super booster against corruption that all democratic and autocratic governments have to contend with.

In the list of the most corrupt politicians in the world in the last 100 years, the worst with the largest amounts of stolen wealth were mostly in countries which then had autocratic governments. Among them were Suharto, Marcos Sr., Duvalier, Sese Seko, Kaddafi, Fujimori, and many others. There were also corrupt leaders in democratic and semi-democratic countries but they were fewer and the amounts involved were smaller. In the last 10 years, Najib of Malaysia, some high ranking officials in Taiwan, South Korea, the Philippines, and in the U.S. were arrested and convicted of corruption. The obvious conclusion is that corruption is lesser in a democratic society with media freedom and a vigilant citizenry. This is also the reason autocrats hate the internet and social media.

So, maybe PBBM is on the right track in the ongoing DPWH corruption investigations, to let the ax fall on the guilty, forward it to its just conclusion, and jail some senators and congressmen. We hope and pray.