The root of all corruption

What am I talking about? Corruption in the government, in different businesses, in hospitals, and even in your own little comfortable office!

The thing is, corruption has been here for quite some time now, and I believe that no matter how intellectual you are, or how righteous you want to try to be. Sooner or later only two possible outcomes can occur when you are submerged into an institution drowning in corruption. First, you either get kicked out by your own team, or the people in that group because you cannot conform to their so called “standard of work”… or 2nd, you yourself continue the tradition of corruption to be passed on to your subordinates and later generations.

Unfortunately no one really breaks free. And as time goes by, as the country is maturing through this new millennium, we become aware of how corrupt officials can be. How much money do politicians actually steal from the people that voted for them? How many doctors are there, that prescribe certain medicines because certain companies give them certain commissions? Or how many bosses will favor a certain supplier just because there’s something in it for them, although it will definitely cost their companies reputation and standards?

Is there really a way to cure this new cancer of the Philippines?

I honestly don’t know. But I have hopes, and somehow I still believe we can. Talking about it is a start, making a lot people aware that this is indeed happening. Maybe if we talk about it long and loud enough, people will stop ignoring it. As the saying goes… “The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is to do absolutely nothing”. I think we’ve done nothing long enough! We’ve kept our mouth shut; we’ve focused only on ourselves, enjoying that Starbucks frappe, listening to Ipod tunes, hitting on Friendsters’ webpage almost all day without even pausing for a second to ask the question “hey what have I done for mankind today?” Do me a favor and ask yourself just that. What legacy do you want to be part of? What can you do to honestly change our country, or the world for that matter?

There is hope, not everyone will necessarily agree with me on this opinion but I think we can change. I honestly believe a lot of corruption can be stopped from its very root. And that root is the simple concept of giving and accepting “tips”, the act of giving and accepting money in exchange for an extra service whether legal or illegal.

It’s quite obvious why it is wrong to give or accept tips illegally, but the question is why we shouldn’t be doing it even in legal ways. Well let me ask you something, is it right to pay for a service a 2nd time knowing that you have already paid for it? I’ve worked in a hospital as a therapist, and I have had my share of tips. What happens is when two or more of my patients come in at the same time, I pay more attention to the patient giving me tips, because I know I have to take care of that patient more, or give that person a special treatment. But I realized it’s unfair to other patients, they all pay their treatment dues but I treat them unequally due to tips. This is just one simple example, but look at what happens in government offices, some workers don’t even do their job, or makes excuses to not do their job well, simply because they are waiting for tips, or rather even asking for it. We all know this to be true thus we coined the term “padulas” (giving an extra amount of money so that your papers or documents will finally be processed!)

I believe that if we could just stop patronizing the act of giving and receiving tips, real work can finally be done in different offices. Real services can be provided. That a lot of people will actually start caring how well they did their job, and not just how much money they can try to get from other people.

I know I want to say so many other things. In the end it is my hope that this government will make the act of giving and receiving tips “illegal”! I believe it’s about time that we should stop this concept, because it is the very concept that corrupts as all. I ask this country to create a law that will punish those who continue with this act. But most of all, I ask you the reader to keep an open mind, to look at the good things that can happen if we stop this act, and to spread the word.