Name: Rex Gilbert O.

Odiaman – LIFWRIZ 219

Colonial Corruption and its Effect on the Philippines’ Public Sector
Colonialism was a powerful force that drastically altered the world, laying seeds of
gender-based violence, environmental degradation, and economic injustice that have
since taken root. Language death, country birth, how we perceive each other, and how
we understand ourselves have all resulted from colonization or resistance to it. Of all the
things that the Spaniards imparted in us in their 300-year reign in the Philippines, one of
the most apparent traits to this day is the culture of corruption among officials that was
very present in the time of Rizal. As a practice that erodes the trust, we have in our public
officials to act in our best interests, Corruption became one of the leading causes of the
delay of national development. It not only built walls between social classes, but also
contributed to the further widening of wealth gap between them.

According to a paper written by Litton-Navasero in 2013, “We have come to

uncover that there is strong evidence to support that corruption in the Philippines is rooted
in Spanish Colonization.” This is evidenced by the fact that the Spanish colonizers heavily
pursued tremendous ethnic division between them and the natives, going as far as calling
them ‘indios’ – or the lowest in the pecking order, thus, were heavily looked down on. Due
to this social hierarchy, the Spanish blood was given due importance than others. They
enjoyed full access to human rights, while natives suffered racial discrimination, forced
labor, and maltreatment in any economic aspect. This went on for as long until the
Philippines’ acquired independence in 1898.

But did it really end there? When Aguinaldo read the declaration of independence,
did it set us free from the chains of the practice of corruption within the country? It wouldn’t
be surprising to say no, as corruption is still very present to this day. In fact, it has
undermined the sustainable development goals of the country, has caused great
economic loss and inefficiency, further worsened poverty and inequality, personal loss
due to intimidation and inconvenience, failures in infrastructures, partial justice system,
the list goes on and on. To put things in perspective, from 1979 to November 2016, the
Sandiganbayan heard 10,094 charges of malversation and 7,968 cases of graft against
public officials. They account for half of the 33,772 corruption cases received by the
special court over that time period (53.59%). Imagine the numbers after 7 years since
then. Currently, this has led to the Philippines being ranked 116th out of 180 countries in
the least corrupt rankings by Corruption Perceptions Index in 2023. And there have been
no signs of improvement to this day.

There is not a better way to describe what the Spanish corruption has done to our
character than when Tanya Tagaq stated “Not only are indigenous people forced to
shoulder the burden of colonialism; we are expected to celebrate.” Although it was an
unfair practice to our ancestors, we still adopted it. It would be irresponsible to blame the
corrupt Spanish colonials, but they did play a huge roll in shaping this practice that has
forever scarred the nature of the country’s public sector.
References:

Chilukuri, S. (2021). 17 Powerful Quotes About Colonialism.

https://www.teenvogue.com/story/quotes-about-colonialism

Impacts of Corruption (n.d.). Independent Broad-Based Anti-Corruption Commission.

https://www.ibac.vic.gov.au/impacts-
corruption#:~:text=Corruption%20also%20erodes%20the%20trust,never%20getting%2
0off%20the%20ground.

Litton-Navasero, A. (2013). Corruption in the Philippine Archipelago: The Result of

Spanish Colonization and American Intervention.
https://www.academia.edu/29241699/Corruption_in_the_Philippine_Archipelago_The_R
esult_of_Spanish_Colonization_and_American_Intervention

Effects of Corruption (n.d.). United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

https://www.unodc.org/e4j/zh/anti-corruption/module-1/key-issues/effects-of-
corruption.html

Abrea, R. (2023). A look at how corruption works in the Philippines.

https://business.inquirer.net/390650/a-look-at-how-corruption-works-in-the-philippines

Buan, L. (2017). Tracking Sandiganbayan: Who’s who in the PH’s biggest corruption
cases? https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/159148-biggest-corruption-cases-
sandiganbayan-graft-plunder-malversation/