By Bee-Ar Guiruela

With everyday newspaper stories on overpriced government projects and public money diverted to personal accounts of government officials, it seems most Filipinos now concede that corruption is inevitable. Its pervasiveness in the bureaucracy and the seeming laxity of government officials in curving its proliferation proves to be a barrier that stand in the way of the government's all out war against poverty.

Corruption takes in different forms. It can be graft that is the illegal appropriation of public resources for personal interest, or nepotism, that is the preferential treatment by virtue of blood relation, friendship, or political affiliation, rather than merit. Or it can also be in the form of bribery, a receipt or offering of valued materials to induce a government official to overlook his or her public duties. But to whatever form it is, one impact is constant - it hampers the government's drive to eradicate poverty and institute economic development in the country.

Dr. Joel Rocamora, Executive Director of Institute for Popular Democracy, cited two existing types of corruption; one is "income inside" corruption, wherein certain government agencies and officials use their authority to channel government revenues to private interests. The second type of government corruption is the "expenditure side" corruption, which ranges from outright robbery of the treasury to the more subtle diversion of public funds from government projects.

According to Transparency International, an organization that aims to fight corruption, government corruption widens the gap between the rich and poor, it also "destabilizes societies in social, economic and political terms." It saps resources available for development and lessens access to basic social services of poor communities.

It is the poor that suffers the consequences, they are denied of their rights. Corruption diverts government resources intended for the poor. An instance was during the administration of the late Ferdinand Marcos; funds for housing and public health reportedly end up in private pockets, instead of going to poor beneficiaries. Another case would be the so-called Multi-billion Peso President (as I-Magazine Editor Sheila Coronel call him in an article published for January to March 2001 issue), who "plundered the country right under the noses of the courts, the Cabinet and Congress." Coronel added, it is difficult at this stage to have a full picture of exactly how much Estrada made and to list down all the deals that he went into. The figure of Php20 billion accumulated in two-and-a-half years is at best a rough estimate. But just by judging the Jose Velarde account, the former president took a share of the profits made by his various friends in enterprises that ran the gamut of all lucrative businesses, from smuggling to housing, telecommunications and gambling.

Corruption wastes government funds by channeling money into pockets of a few and away from the projects that help the poor built their lives. As a result, the government has less money to spend on basic social services like education, health and poverty eradication. Robbing the coffers of the government is robbing the poor of sustenance and basic services.

Corruption continues to keep the country mired in economic and fiscal limbo, justifying its reputation as one of the most corrupt economies in Asia. The excesses and corruption of President Estrada and his Administration eroded much of the gradual progress that the Philippines had made against these chronic problems. But at least the exposes made by responsible media groups, especially that of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) have prompted the Filipino people to raise issues about the effectiveness of government performance, the accountability of government institutions, and the transparency of government agencies. They have realized that democracy in itself does not ensure the government officials and institutions are immune to the corruption that plagued authoritarian regimes.

To quote Sheila Coronel, "what the People Power 2 achieved was to oust the godfather. It was no mean feat, but the rest of the Mafia remains very much in place."