Corruption

According to Andrei Shleifer and Robert Vishny (1993) in quote, “government corruption is defined as
the sale by government officials of government property for personal gain”. In these cases they charge
personally for goods that the state officially owns. In line with this, corruption has many connotations and
interpretations, varying by time place and as well as discipline. With wide range of meanings, it generally
defines to “the abuse of an entrusted power for private gain” which captures the roots of corruption --- bribery,
embezzlement, nepotism, influence peddling, conflicts of interest accounting fraud, electoral fraud and so forth.
In the Philippine context, corruption has been present for a long time and denoted to be something that
will not go away at an instant and will be carried on from generations and generations. As long as there are
presence of political dynasties who hunger for power and living up to fame, indecent politicians who only want
to construct a society of slaves and making rules only suitable to them, and of course, politicians who would
highly by pocket the country’s money. According to a Philippine study of Damianus A., et al., on the “Journal
of Social Sciences”, Corruption stays and it becomes a regular experience encountered by many people, to the
extent that people are losing hope and trust in the government when it comes to corruption prevention. The
Philippines is one of Asia's countries that has been the center of discussion when it comes to corruption. It can
instill in the mind of a young generation that corruption practices are an integral part of business transactions to
get things done. Corruption may be considered as symptomatic signs of moral decay.
The Transparency International presents a table of data of the CPI of all existing countries. And it
indicates that the Philippines is marked 115 among other countries ranging from 34 – 36 each years since 2012.
Which makes Philippines top 65 on corruption activities with its top 1 Somalia and least corrupted in the list,
New Zealand. It has made the Filipinos be of desperate in changing the system of politics in this country. The
arising of activists, defenders and even wars are emerging because of corruption. It has affected the morals of
the Filipino people at the same time the humility and respect of the government to the people has gone.

There are consequences and effects from the corrupt actions from our government. Firstly, on our
economy. Economy will lessen its progress and there will be presence low labor output, reduced investment,
and as a result shoddier growth. Corruption alters the economic efficiency downhill and makes funds unstable
for country development. It also harmfully impacts on the country’s money. Corrupt leaders tend to take away
the budget of the country and gradually use it for personal matters and then make statements to the media that
the money is safe and put on development on other society affairs which makes this politicians as liars. The
investment and foreign aid of the country will also be of danger. Next is on the abusing of rights of the society
along with their power. Government officials involved in corruption exhibit traits of greed, selfishness,
stubbornness and even dishonesty. Handling the government gives them advantage of being able to make a
society which they think as appropriate from their viewpoint but step on the civil rights of the countrymen.
Thus, leading us to become activists and defenders of our rights and tend to make treaties with the government
but due to the selfishness of these officials they tend to make everything on their own accord because of the
power they hold and the throne they sit on.
These actions effects also the view of our humanity, on all ages. Elders may think of it as an act of
disrespect to the handling of the country and the submissive act of stealing away the rights of the people which
can affect their attitude towards the government as harmful and disrespectful. But to those who are not yet
knowledgeable of these acts, they tend to think of it as the morals and mechanisms of the government to make
the country good because they are uncontrollable for they have the power. But moving to the points of youth
activists, it is merely a trample of chaos which is needed to be defended and therefore to seek justice and peace
for the right of passage of growth in society. They do not seek validity from the government for they have
acquired rights to become empowered with their voice and not be abused by their actions. But this is where war
emerges but no guilt has come upon the government particular of this issue.
Based from these certain effects, there is also a certain knowledge on how to avoid government
corruption on both parties, from the society and the officials. Government officials should be of responsible for
their actions, thus, they should observe proper execution actions because it can reflect to the society. They must
never be tempted to any pernicious actions that can cause anarchy and not handle good governance. Therefore,
they must also hear the criticisms and the voices from the society in order for them to be aware of what is
needed, fixed, and implemented for the greater good and the movement in progress of our country. Although
some may think it is bad to question the government about their platforms and actions and give critiques for
their work, it is actually a healthy way to sustain our society and uphold civil rights of the democracy of our
country. As to the role of us citizens, we are intended and obliged to vote and select officials that will be
handling us. By that, we should be observant and responsible to choose someone eligible of having non corrupt
platforms and mindset to ease our society and make it free from harm. And by using that power, we must be
knowledgeable ourselves to know what is good and what is bad for the country and our citizens and that can
help be of neglecting corrupt activities and uphold development in it.
 To conclude, the effects of corruption can disseminate the whole country’s well-being and image and
can affect the citizens’ rights and lifestyle and can lead to no progression on economy and growth. We must
learn from the actions of our past governance and imply it to our upcoming and running officials on elections,
especially this upcoming 2022. To select your candidate you must clearly and carefully review their actions and
what they can be of capable to do for this country. The research of reliable sources and facts about their
credentials are also of importance and most especially their humility and open mindedness to all issues of the
country, awareness of its needs, and the plea of its people. It is said by Robert Zoellick that “Corruption is a
cancer that steals from the poor, eats away governance and moral fiber and destroys trust.” Your vote counts to
avoid corruption. Your vote counts for the better of our society.