Confronting bureaucrat capitalism and ‘out-of-control’ corruption

I personally and politically thank the leftist movement for aptly and bravely naming the corruption problem in the Philippines as ”bureaucrat capitalism.” We have been taught that to solve a problem, we have to name it.

Bureaucrat capitalism means usurping government offices and positions to amass wealth for personal gain or dynastic interest. It is running the government like a private business by stealing people’s money (taxes) and channeling it to personal or cronies’ accounts. Positions in government become the capital gained through elections and padrino connections.

Of late, we confirmed how our country was deluged with a flood of corruption, with communities underwater, exposing the quagmire of governance manifested in leptospirosis cases that took lives.

Disaster is not about the occurrence of typhoons, earthquakes, cyclones, or other calamities. There is no natural disaster. Disaster lies in the vulnerability of the people and communities, where the poorest among us suffer the most, while those who made them poor and miserable are spared and flaunt a life in luxury.

In his State of the Nation Address, President Marcos was enraged when he uttered, “Mahiya naman kayo sa inyong kapwa Pilipino (Shame on you, especially toward your fellow Filipinos).” The next issue that hogged the headlines was ghost, incomplete, palpak, or substandard infrastructure and infuriating flood control projects, which we can also call “out-of-control” projects.

The corruption problem in our country did not happen yesterday. Mr. Marcos was already a consenting adult when his family plundered the nation’s coffers. He (and his siblings) were the original nepo babies. His life has never been wanting or poor.

“The World Bank and UN Office on Drugs and Crime said Marcos, having the longest reign as dictator, stole between $5 billion and $10 billion from the country’s coffers.” (see “Marcos’ martial law: Golden age for corruption, abuses,” 9/21/21).

Amnesty International revealed that some 70,000 people were imprisoned and 34,000 were tortured; over 3,200 people were killed from 1972 to 1981.

The President may subject himself to a lifestyle check, but how can we be assured that there will be no revival of the shrewd scheme like that of William Saunders and Jane Ryan, the false identities of late president Ferdinand Marcos Sr. and Imelda Marcos used to open an account with Credit Suisse in Zurich four years before martial law was declared? (The Swiss government turned over the $627 million to the Philippine government in 1998.)

We look for paper trails and evidence of corruption. There will be a series of congressional hearings, but we are not certain if the waiting for justice is eternal. The flooding, ghost projects, and substandard public infrastructure will tell all. Government after government speaks of development, yet the poor remain submerged in the murky floodwaters. People are trapped because roads are not passable, while daily wage earners struggle and brave the floods just to earn and feed their families. Hospitals are filled with the poor sickened by leptospirosis, many of whom are unable to afford medicine. These happen amid the extravagance of the rich who have cornered contracts from government projects. And we know that government officials are not innocent about the predicament of the poor.

We need a good government and not the trapos who have earned a lot from bureaucrat capitalism and have normalized corruption like a standard operating procedure. We need a government that praises and honors whistleblowers and activists—tireless and principled individuals who expose the ills in government. We need more of them than construction corporations that connive with public officials in robbing the people’s money.

To clean the government, it must be prepared for a radical change.

Dss. Norma P. Dollaga,

kasimbayan@yahoo.com.ph