CHAPTER 1
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
“We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution”, line from Abraham Lincoln [online] that indicates a nation’s corruption.
For everyone, government is the only body of a country - that protects the rights of its citizens; is the one that is concern for the laws to be implemented that are equally made for its people; is as concern as an organization for its members to aid their needs; and, is an authority which transparency exists about on how they function among others. But what’s happening nowadays, are the opposites of the above statements. And, most of its people are aware of the officials behind this confrontation.
Every citizen wishes to have a country where there is transparency. A transparency - that shows the unity and equality among the law, the officials and, of course, for its people is what most of them desire; that can somehow lessen the problems in supporting the needs of others; that helps to broadcast the income and the expenditures of the country; that warns its people that they are living in a democratic country; a way for the nation’s citizens to see the activities of the elected officials; and, of course, a key that somehow lessen the corruption in the government. However, even this transparency is being practiced the saddest part is that, not all officials are aware of this. This is the reason why corruption in the Philippines is one of the major dilemmas that they are still facing.
Government officials trusted by the people are nowadays the ones involved in the major issue in the country which is Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) Scam, or the pork-barre...
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...tp://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/corruption).
Government- is an institution that holds the exclusive power to enforce certain rules of social conduct in a given geographical area. (http://aynrandlexicon.com/lexicon/government.html)
Priority Development Assistance Fund- or pork barrel, part of the Philippine government, is the budget to be allocated in different sectors that is given to the Senate and Congress.
Transparency- In politics, transparency is used as a means of holding public officials accountable and fighting corruption. When a government's meetings are open to the press and the public, its budgets may be reviewed by anyone, and its laws and decisions are open to discussion, it is seen as transparent, and there is less opportunity for the authorities to abuse the system for their own interests. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transparency_(behavior))
Corruption is a persistent problem that plagues the world and it knows no boundaries. Transparency International defines it as the “abuse of entrusted power for private gain” (2013). For the purposes of this thread, ‘corruption’ is defined as any individual, collective, or structural act or process that permits the use of public authority or position for private gain. This definition captures the broad and many ways individuals and institutions abuse power and the public trust. In regard to whistleblowing, much conflict stems from the context in which the whistleblower is viewed.
Even citizens who try to speak up against the government are punished and are shunned within their community. Drakulic explained how a journalist named Tanja wrote an “ article naive as it seems today, speaking ‘only’ about pinball machines revealed their functioning and hypocrisy of the communist state. She was mocked it and had to be punished for it.” ( 3 Drakulic) This journalist had no intentions of exposing her beliefs about the communist power in her article. But the company interpreted as her speaking against the government and she had to face consequences for what she has written in her article. People have begun to treat Tanja differently since here incident “ she was put ‘on ice’ - ignored, invisible, nonexistent, a non-journalist, a non- person. People in her work place didn't acknowledge her since she wrote that article about how the communist state function. Citizens under the communist power faced severe challenges in life as well as not being able to have a voice in
Politicians many times have been found guilty of corruption. They use unethical techniques to get higher positions in an election, to gain more money, votes or to lay hands on ungotten wealth. Corruption exists in the police force, in law and order and even in the management of the Olympic Games.
Many people know about or have witnessed this corruption taking place and numerous attempts to rid of it have been made. It is not an easy task attempting to bring justice to where justice should be made. There ...
“Political corruption is the use of power by government officials for illegitimate private gain.” This can lead to the downfall of societies because when citizens find out, they won’t have any respect for their government/leaders because of the bad things they do. Lack of respect can cause riots/outbreaks in cities.
Corruption consists in the illegitimate agreement between a corruptor and a corrupted, in which they abuse of their public power in order to obtain personal benefit. Bribery and corruption is something that has been going on for years. According to Allen, “officials perceive themselves as immune to any penalties for demanding and receiving bribes” which she states that it is one of the main reasons for bribery and corruption in underdeveloped countries. According to Transparency International, an organization committed exclusively to end corruption, three of the most corrupt countries in the world are Somalia, North Korea and Afghanistan. This does not mean that corruption is only seen in underdeveloped countries. In international business, corporate employees often find themselves dealing with corruptors in foreign countries and, in most cases, they will give in.
“…It serves always to distract the Public Councils and enfeeble the Public administration. It agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection. It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which finds a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passions. Thus the policy and the will of one country are subjected to the policy and will of another.”
The general meaning of transparency implies openness, or see-through, which is then applied to socio-politics with regards to accessing information and governmental records to better enable knowledge sharing and accountability. Finel and Lord (1999) define transparency as legal, political, and institutional structures that make internal information about a government and society available to actors both inside and outside of domestic political systems. According to Ann Florini (1998; 2002; 2008), transparency is the opposite of secrecy and a choice encouraged by changing attitudes about what constitutes appropriate behavior. Gupta (2008) and Mason (2008) further highlight the complex, contested, and important nature of transparency as a tool
powerful institution in the society, the government attempts to draw away the attention of the public towards
Corruption is one of the main reasons why some of us do not trust the Philippine government anymore. The idea that all politicians are rich because they steal the money of the people are now instilled in the minds of many of our countrymen. While this may be true for some politicians, Sen. Santiago started anti-corruption campaigns that would investigate the corrupt. Sen. Santiago was in charge of the investigation about these politicians, “It was Senator Santiago who in effect started the national plunder investigation (which is now a historic scandal). In December 2012, she revealed that the senate president had used Senate funds to give away cash gifts. Every senator received P2 million as a Christmas gift, taken from public funds, except Senator Santiago and two others.”1 She also tries to seek the gradual abolition of the pork
I heartily accept the motto, "That government is best which governs least"; and I should like to see it acted up to more rapidly and systematically. Carried out, it finally amounts to this, which also I believe--"That government is best which governs not at all"; and when men are prepared for it, that will be the kind of government which the will have. Government is at best but an expedient; but most governments are usually, and all governments are sometimes, inexpedient. The objections which have been brought against a standing army, and they are many and weighty, and deserve to prevail, may also at last be brought against a standing government. The standing army is only an arm of the standing government. The government itself, which is only the mode which the people have chosen to execute their will, is equally liable to be abused and perverted before the people can act through it. Witness the present Mexican war, the work of comparatively a few individuals using the standing government as their tool; for in the outset, the people would not have consented to this measure.
A government was required to lead the people and aid in organizing a city. City governments were far more powerful than the council of elders and local chiefs of farming villages. At first, Priest probably had the greatest. In time, warrior kings came to power as chief political leaders. They soon set themselves up as the chief hereditary ruler and passed their power from father to son. Governments soon became more complex as rulers issued laws, collected taxes, and organizes systems of defense. To enforce order, rulers relied on royal officials. Over time, government bureaucracies evolved. Almost always rulers claimed their power came from god or divine right. These rulers then gained religious power as well.
Kickbacks, bribes, no/bid for federal contracts, secret meetings and agreements, lies and misinformation; it is a common occurrence on global news headlines that Mexican government and private corporations have been beset by a plague of dishonesty, corruption, and malfeasance of funds. Between those recent government scandals, many Mexican citizens lost the faith, reliability and belief in public institutions and politic parties. In addition, Mexican government’s credibility had been decreased within International governments and investors. Hence, it is difficult to gauge the extent of distrust, dishonesty among Mexican citizens as it is typical of public administrators to illicit behaviors of bribes, corruption, and organized crime? Although unethical behavior in government has been associated with contractors, officials’ elections and corporative agreements; during the last 70 years, the most powerful political party (PRI) had been charged with many corruption scandals relating to campaign financing, white collar (Stephens, 2011), budget frauds and malfeasance.
Philippine politics is the birthplace of promises of great guarantees and additionally the reason for huge dissatisfactions gainful of poverty, poor justice system and low quality of education, agriculture and economic rate.
Montesh, M. (n.d.). Conceptualizing Corruption: Forms, Causes, Types and Consequences. Retrieved May 4, 2014, from