KIEFER JOHN V.

SAGA

MARCH 11, 2013

SOCIO 63 F
CORRUPTION
I IMPORTANT DETAILS
From simple group of islands rising to a sovereign country, Philippines cannot be denied that she was a prey
of corruption since the era of Spanish colonial. Corruption has no concrete definition, for it is broad such that what
may be defined by a country may not be applicable to another country. But scholars continually extract that definition
of corruption, according to Rose-Ackerman (1996, p. 365), it occurs when officials use their positions of public trust
for private gain. It is an extralegal institution used by individuals or groups to gain influence over the bureaucracy
(Leff, 1964, p. 8). That is, corruption involves transactions, typically between private parties and public officials,
designed to manipulate the machinery of government. The causes of corruption rotates on the scene of greed of
money, particularly absence/weakness of leadership, weakness of religious influence, colonialism, lack of education,
poverty, absence of disciplinary measures and the structure of government. These are few specific areas where in
Filipinos ignore to scrutinize when they vote or put a person in authority. Consequently from a simple petty corruption
that is a small scale, evolving to political corruption that uses government power to public gain, to grand corruption
that flexes laws and policies in favor of corrupt practices, are few modes that enables to hinder a foundation of public
trust. Thus these laws and policies are made to protect the public interest against corruption, such that it strengthens
the mandate of the constitution to bolder the transparency and accountability in government.
The group corruption selects the conflict perspective, anchored by the sociological thought of Karl Marx.
That conflict perspective assumes that social life is shaped by groups and individuals who struggle or compete with
one another over various resources and rewards, resulting in particular distributions of power, wealth, and prestige in
societies and social systems. These shape the patterns of everyday life as well as things such as racial, ethnic, and
class inequality and relations among nations and regions of the world. Thus in the context of Philippines, following
this theory, the dominant ideology within a society is that of the powerful groups. The powerful groups of a society are
those who own the means of capital, those in authoritative positions, those with the power to make and enforce the
law the government and its institutions. Conflict theory assumes that society in the Philippines makes the norms to
serve the interests of the powerful. Moreover, conflict theory argues that the law is not equally enforced on every
Filipino citizen. The powerless are processed more harshly than the powerful. Power corrupts, but official
criminalization requires that there must be some greater power able to define that corruption is criminal. Absolute
power corrupts absolutely, but people with absolute power are never officially defined as criminals (Leff, N. 1964).

II LEARNINGS
Undeniably, corruption co-exists with ideal governance. It is the dark side of the public service. The
Philippines has an impressive number of anti-graft laws imposing a wide range of administrative, civil and penal
sanctions against all forms of improprieties, venalities and abuses of public officials and employees of all ranks in our
government system, including some which prescribe ethical standards of conduct. Yet, despite our laws and
structures that prohibit, prevent and punish engagement or involvement in corruption, it is consistently prevalent and
appears to be frighteningly invincible, like the mythical hydra-headed monster. Ironically, the strict application of the
laws themselves sometimes hinders the effectiveness of the criminal justice response, as seen in the consecutive
impeachment proceedings against top government officials. Hence, it is believed that aside from the battle on the
legal front, a moral revolution is also imperative. This crusade adheres to only one law which is not complicated. This
is quite significant and relevant especially when those involved in the fight against corruption are themselves accused
of involvement in it.
Thus it is my recommendation that, first the government should INCREASING PUBLIC OVERSIGHT.
Measures to increase significantly the information made available to the general public have special importance
because they let citizens know what officials are accountable for and how to judge their performance against those
standards. Second the government should IMPROVING THE CIVIL SERVICE. The poor incentive framework
governing the civil service in the Philippines is another major factor contributing to corruption. With this in mind,
restructuring the civil service to reinforce merit and to provide adequate financial compensation and accountability for
performance is recommended as a key element in a national anticorruption program. Third the government should
ENHANCING SANCTIONS FOR CORRUPTION. Anticorruption efforts should focus on preventing and eliminating
root causes of corruption, but governments capacity to detect corruption and sanction corrupt practices should also
be strengthened. From this three basic recommendations, Philippine Government and the people will have peace
and order against corruption.
REFERENCES
De Leon, H. (2008). Textbook on the Philippine Constitution. 2008 edition. Rex Book Store, Inc. Manila, Philippines.
Leff, N. (1964). Economic Development through Bureaucratic Corruption, The AmericanBehavioral Scientist, (3):814. Illinois University Press. United States of America.
Philippine Commission on Good Government (PCGG), http://www.pcgg.gov.ph/ . Retrived on March 10, 2013.
Philippine Presidential Anti-graft Commision, http://www.pagc.gov.ph/pagc_predecessor.htm. Retrived on March 10, 2013.
Rose-Ackerman, S. (1996). Democracy and Grand Corruption, International Social Science Kournal, 48(3): 365380. Manchester View Press. United Kingdom.