“But why can Chile do things and we can’t?
What did they do to exorcise the ghost of the dictatorship to move the country forward in a dramatic way?
What did they do to purge the legacies of corruption and cronyism?
And, again, why are we stuck in our morass and ineptitude?”



What is it with this South American country that for a long period was just like us? It seems to be capable of doing everything. For a global audience, it recently plucked out 33 trapped miners from the deep, melding tunnel metrics and precise geology with the profoundest of human emotion. You can’t help but marvel at the miners, their will to live, and the national dedication to the cause of pulling them through –and into the warm embrace of people they love.
Contrast this with our own recent experience: the bungled rescue of tourists held by a lone, showboating madman which led to a loss of lives, the rage of other nations, a tragedy that showcased the worst in us.

After a formal report on the tragedy had been filed, we were even clueless about the protocols on who should have the report first. Pathetic country, truly.

Now this: Chile was ranked 21st in the list of clean countries, one rank higher than the US. We? Transparency International (TI), in its latest corruption perception report, ranked us 134th of the 178 countries surveyed. Meaning, only 44 countries had been rated more corrupt than us and none of the 44 countries was from the original Asean

Thank you Afghanistan, thank you Iraq, thank you Somalia. If not for you, where would we be in the ranking.

Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia were “cleaner and more transparent” than us. Don’t even ask where Singapore was. It was ranked Number 1, the cleanest of the clean.

Was it not only recently that we had Marcos and Chile had Pinochet? Was it not only recently that our mines and Chile’s mines were for the oligarchy?
Was it not only recently that our fate and Chile’s fate were shaped and decided with the help of foreign interests?

Was it not only recently that caudillos ruled both Chile and the Philippines?

What pushed Chile to the path of Southern America’s most vibrant and politically stable democracy? And the Philippines into its morass and torpor?

There are no easy answers. What we know is that at some point we were like them, countries locked up in the battle between a dictatorship and those fighting the dictatorship, with the ordinary people caught up in the middle.

The post-authoritarian life of both Chile and the Philippines had a familiar narrative. Children of the anti-authoritarian icons, of those who gave their lives in defiance of the dictatorship—Bachelet and Aquino—came to power riding on the heroic reputation of their parents.

But why can Chile do things and we cant? What did they do to exorcise the ghost of the dictatorship to move the country forward in a dramatic way?

What did they do to purge the legacies of corruption and cronyism?

And, again, why are we stuck in our morass and ineptitude?

The lone bright spot we have is a new president who has promised to govern with integrity. And who is apparently keeping that promise. There are several weak spots in the administration of President Aquino 3rd but his personal integrity keeps Filipinos from getting that all-too-familiar sinking feeling.
Even the infantile acts and amateur hours of his administration have been largely forgiven due to his unsoiled integrity.

In the tough and grueling slog to next year’s TI ranking, however, the official acts should go beyond the exercise by President Aquino of personal integrity. From 134, we should leap to a place between Malaysia and Thailand, a place somewhere in the 60s. And from there work our way into the elite list of the 50 least corrupt countries.
Question: Can we do that?

The TI statements are instructive. TI had accurately noted that the regulatory agencies of a country can make or unmake the perception of corruption.
If the regulatory agencies allow very little gaps and lapses in their systems, there would be less breathing room for corruption. This is actually a to-the-mark diagnosis of official corruption, Philippine context.

The government agencies that set—and levy—fees and charges, approve franchises and administer utilities have historically been the thriving ground of large-scale corruption. Rules and levies are used as bludgeons to favor vested interests, kill competition and promote monopolies.

This is not popular information about big-time corruption. But seemingly innocuous rulings and decisions from low-key agencies such as the National Telecommunications Commission and the Land Transport Franchising and Regulatory Board are often of the nature of large-scale graft.

More, even a decision that favors grease-giving companies and utilities can be couched in legalese. The regulatory agencies of government have had long, uninterrupted regimes of orgiastic corruption because the most injurious of decisions can quote some fuzzy legalese to back up those decisions.
An oversight on the work and official decisions of the regulatory agencies can counter such hocus pocus. It should be a 24/7 job because—as we all know—corruption never sleeps.

That oversight institution has to be with Congress. You may say that Congress may just use that permanent oversight committee to shake down private business—an additional layer of corruption. True. But the very public and transparent nature of oversight committee work, in which everybody would jockey for the right to ask the toughest questions, has the force to ferret out corruption from the deepest deep. BY MARLEN V. RONQUILLO