On corruption and the NBN-ZTE deal
The crime of corruption
We have become so inured to corruption in our midst that we forget its place in history.
Corruption is an act most vividly recounted in the Bible, in a story we remember more for the idea of betrayal.
It is the story of Judas as he betrays Jesus for the thirty pieces of silver.
Read the passages and be filled with sadness, more so than anger. For Judas asks the priests in Matthew 26:14-16 :
"What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?" So they counted out for him thirty silver coins. From then on Judas watched for an opportunity to hand him over.
We are so accustomed to seeing corruption, to dealing with it as we go about our day. We give the “tip” to the office holder, to forget our transgression. We “befriend” the person in charge, so we get more of what he disburses. We accept a friendly gift and “return” the favour in kind.
We have forgotten corruption’s face, for we see it in the mirror, we see it in our family, we see it in our workplace, we see it on the street. For this is corruption’s way.
But let us cast aside what blinds us. Betrayal is at the heart of the NBN crisis, and cries out for the nation’s answer. For myself, I readily admit, Lozada’s testimony rings with truth, whatever else he may be. And the President’s reaction, for its speciousness, its viciousness in its blighted abduction, its concerted obfuscation, tolls more convincingly than a signed confession. For here is where, as Randy David says, the President’s covenant with the nation is not tested nor is it resolved in the courts of law, but in the furnace of public opinion.
And that betrayal of the public trust, this treachery on the nation, was for that selfsame base reward 2000 years ago. Inflation now has a definitive measure: those thirty pieces of silver would have been US$130m in 2008AD.
For all who have known hunger, who have known pain, who have known loneliness and privation; for all of us who live for a better and brighter day, for a life of peace and love for our neighbour; for all of us who work for our families, for all who have trudged and toiled, who have cried and cared for our parents, our children, our brothers, our sisters: know this and know this well – GMA and her cohorts on the NBN deal are today’s faces of corruption.
GMA and her cohorts are the inheritors of a tradition descended from that most venal of actions.
People Power and our burden
Our power comes not from the glorious demonstrations of EDSA. We do not necessarily have to march to demand accountability.
For every servant who serves faithfully, for every labourer that works diligently, for every one of us who does his due, we have the right to expect that of others. Perhaps that is the least we can expect, because whatever talents we may or may not have, the capacity to “do the right thing” is granted to us all in equal measure.
A gentle poet once said, “Life needs a thousand kinds of men”. To each of us, no more is expected than we bear our burden as best we can.
We are called to respond to the corruption of our leaders. We have the right to demand accountability from GMA. We have the right to demand truth. The humblest worker in our poor land has a right to call GMA to account personally for the harm she has done to him, to all of us. And the challenge for the nation, collectively and individually, is twofold. Firstly we must learn from history, and we must believe with every bone in our body, that we possess those rights and we have those rights to wield. Secondly, we must insist on the exercise of those rights.
As individuals we have the right but not the capacity. For that right we have delegated to our representatives and our other leaders to exercise on our behalf. We rely on the mechanisms we set in our institutions, on the law and “due process”. Every senator and congressman, every public servant is called to remember on whose behalf they serve, and to consider the challenge of the corruption that is waved about their faces and to respond accordingly. Every person with a voice is called on, to contribute and to be involved, at the very least: to bear their burden as best they can.
Our burden all is to apply our hearts and minds to respond to our times and the clamour of the nation, not for popular overthrow, but to make the system work, to use its processes, to hold GMA and her cohorts accountable for their misdeeds.
Some have decried the lack of leadership of the Church. I admire the Church’s restraint. For the role of the Church is to give hope. People have turned to the Church in dismay at what they observe from the political process, because we all know whatever ills Man creates for himself, there will always be light and love in God’s house.
This matter is for us to resolve, by creating a tide of public opinion so irresistible that it compels those who lead, to introduce productive and lasting change and ensure our processes hold accountable those it must.
Let GMA trifle with the force of our nation’s humanity at her peril.
Let us not forget the crime, this crime of corruption, the darkness it brings, and from whence it comes.
Let us recognise the challenge. Let us put our shoulders to the burden.
We have become so inured to corruption in our midst that we forget its place in history.
Corruption is an act most vividly recounted in the Bible, in a story we remember more for the idea of betrayal.
It is the story of Judas as he betrays Jesus for the thirty pieces of silver.
Read the passages and be filled with sadness, more so than anger. For Judas asks the priests in Matthew 26:14-16 :
"What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?" So they counted out for him thirty silver coins. From then on Judas watched for an opportunity to hand him over.
We are so accustomed to seeing corruption, to dealing with it as we go about our day. We give the “tip” to the office holder, to forget our transgression. We “befriend” the person in charge, so we get more of what he disburses. We accept a friendly gift and “return” the favour in kind.
We have forgotten corruption’s face, for we see it in the mirror, we see it in our family, we see it in our workplace, we see it on the street. For this is corruption’s way.
But let us cast aside what blinds us. Betrayal is at the heart of the NBN crisis, and cries out for the nation’s answer. For myself, I readily admit, Lozada’s testimony rings with truth, whatever else he may be. And the President’s reaction, for its speciousness, its viciousness in its blighted abduction, its concerted obfuscation, tolls more convincingly than a signed confession. For here is where, as Randy David says, the President’s covenant with the nation is not tested nor is it resolved in the courts of law, but in the furnace of public opinion.
And that betrayal of the public trust, this treachery on the nation, was for that selfsame base reward 2000 years ago. Inflation now has a definitive measure: those thirty pieces of silver would have been US$130m in 2008AD.
For all who have known hunger, who have known pain, who have known loneliness and privation; for all of us who live for a better and brighter day, for a life of peace and love for our neighbour; for all of us who work for our families, for all who have trudged and toiled, who have cried and cared for our parents, our children, our brothers, our sisters: know this and know this well – GMA and her cohorts on the NBN deal are today’s faces of corruption.
GMA and her cohorts are the inheritors of a tradition descended from that most venal of actions.
People Power and our burden
Our power comes not from the glorious demonstrations of EDSA. We do not necessarily have to march to demand accountability.
For every servant who serves faithfully, for every labourer that works diligently, for every one of us who does his due, we have the right to expect that of others. Perhaps that is the least we can expect, because whatever talents we may or may not have, the capacity to “do the right thing” is granted to us all in equal measure.
A gentle poet once said, “Life needs a thousand kinds of men”. To each of us, no more is expected than we bear our burden as best we can.
We are called to respond to the corruption of our leaders. We have the right to demand accountability from GMA. We have the right to demand truth. The humblest worker in our poor land has a right to call GMA to account personally for the harm she has done to him, to all of us. And the challenge for the nation, collectively and individually, is twofold. Firstly we must learn from history, and we must believe with every bone in our body, that we possess those rights and we have those rights to wield. Secondly, we must insist on the exercise of those rights.
As individuals we have the right but not the capacity. For that right we have delegated to our representatives and our other leaders to exercise on our behalf. We rely on the mechanisms we set in our institutions, on the law and “due process”. Every senator and congressman, every public servant is called to remember on whose behalf they serve, and to consider the challenge of the corruption that is waved about their faces and to respond accordingly. Every person with a voice is called on, to contribute and to be involved, at the very least: to bear their burden as best they can.
Our burden all is to apply our hearts and minds to respond to our times and the clamour of the nation, not for popular overthrow, but to make the system work, to use its processes, to hold GMA and her cohorts accountable for their misdeeds.
Some have decried the lack of leadership of the Church. I admire the Church’s restraint. For the role of the Church is to give hope. People have turned to the Church in dismay at what they observe from the political process, because we all know whatever ills Man creates for himself, there will always be light and love in God’s house.
This matter is for us to resolve, by creating a tide of public opinion so irresistible that it compels those who lead, to introduce productive and lasting change and ensure our processes hold accountable those it must.
Let GMA trifle with the force of our nation’s humanity at her peril.
Let us not forget the crime, this crime of corruption, the darkness it brings, and from whence it comes.
Let us recognise the challenge. Let us put our shoulders to the burden.
Labels: Corruption, Lozada, NBN, Philippines, ZTE
posted by JayM at 10:15 am
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