Corruption may be present in the military as well

According to former Army Capt. Rene Jarque, corruption is widespread in the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). He said that the AFP has its share of “usual” corrupt practices like commissions, kickbacks, overpricing, padding, substitution, rigged biddings, under-delivery and ghost delivery.

But the AFP is said to have a more sophisticated form of corruption called “conversion” Conversion is the process of converting the budget for military supplies into its cash equivalent by bypassing government accounting and auditing rules bye using false documentation.

Aside from the government, corruption in media also happens. Inday Espina-Varona, the chairperson of National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, said that the definition of media corruption is manipulation of news for personal or corporate interests. According to her, corruption in the media is an open secret.

Luis Teodoro, Danilo Arao and Evelyn Katigbak conducted a study on the media’s coverage of corruption and it showed the weakness of selected print and TV media agencies in evaluating the roots of corruption. According to them, “this necessarily requires looking closely at the workings of government, understanding it, and conveying that information to the readers, viewers and listeners as a living expression of the necessarily oppositional and watchdog functions of the mass media in the Philippine setting.”

In the usual of occurrence of corruption, Tujan pushed for “people’s governance” as the antidote to corruption, a governance which he described as one that would “take the issue of equity as a preeminent concern, ensuring positive action or even a preeminent role for the poor, marginalized toiling masses and develop democratic governance from the perspective of the poor and marginalized.”

This is one reason why Filipinos today don’t know where to go to for help concerning the law. For example, I need to tell the police that I have seen a police officer, wearing their uniform, go into an adult club. In the Philippines, that is not allowed. If I approach the barangay, which for example is where police officer is currently designated, what if the other police officers I talk to are friends of that police officer that I want to report? Or what if they themselves do exactly the same? Would they really take note of my report and do something about it? Most probably, not. So who is the person most likely I’ll run to next? The media people. But then again, corruption also exists in the media. If I go to the wrong person, whom can be a friend of a politician or a person that may be affected by what I will report, will he or she publicize my report? Most probably, I may even be in greater danger than I was before because of the goes out that I am reporting about something bad about the police, other people may follow and then the image of our government will be affected negatively. Of course, our government does not want that. What will happen to me? Most probably, I will be targeted or be falsely charged with something I didn’t know existed. But that’s just my opinion. I don’t know whether I’ll survive the first encounter to whom I reported, It’s probable that by then I will be already assassinated.