How do I disentangle myself from the web of corruption without getting eaten by the spiders?
This letter was posted in Comments by reader wangbumaximus21.
Please bear with this rant. Having worked in a state university for almost 10 years, I can say this for sure: corruption takes so many forms, and it even has a jargon of its own.
Undeserving students get passing grades via “palakasan” or “pakiusap”. If one has connections within the system, she get whatever she wants, with a price to be collected in future dealings. “Mandatory” tickets and even books that are substandard are sold to generate income, but most of the sales go to the “promotor”. The higher-ups implicitly support these crooks, being part of the web of institutional corruption.
I believe corruption is linked to our failure to transcend our “family-oriented” social programming. The painful fact is, our society is moved by families, not individuals. Look at politics, where dynasties dominate. These families treat the public money as their own.
Personally, I don’t want to be part of that web. But it is difficult to challenge the spider if I don’t want to be eaten. So my only relief is to write a journal or a website like this, or to keep silent and hope that change will come. And the prevailing mentality is that insisting on keeping your honor is stupid.
You are lucky to have the means to express your thoughts fully. I make choices, often with bitter results, but I am still part of the web. Choice is a dizzying experience. Eso es todo.
We wish we could give you an answer that isn’t full of platitudes and superficial sound bites, but that would leave us with nothing. We do not have the right to tell you to fight the system at the cost of your career.
The only smidgen of comfort we can offer you is this: You’re not the only one. There are people everywhere who want to do the right thing, only to be told that “This is the way things are” and advised to “grow up”. If being an adult is so repulsive, we choose immaturity.
Don’t stop teaching. Continue to do your work to the best of your ability. Write everything down, but tell no one.
P.S. Bibliotherapy might help. We prescribe Crime and Punishment.
We’ve had C & P on the brain since last night’s private screening of Norte, Hangganan ng Kasaysayan by Lavrentiy Diaztoevsky. It’s brilliant, a movie you feel privileged to have seen. At the same time you sort of wish you hadn’t seen it—it’s so harrowing, we needed two drinks afterwards. Talk about plumbing the depths of despair: old Fyodor would’ve approved (and maybe told him to lighten up). When it opens in cinemas, alcohol should be sold in the snack bar.
Norte asks the questions we’ve been turning over in our minds, including, Why do the good suffer while the bad roam free? Is life a curse? Is freedom a prison? There’s nothing like raking over your soul to make you feel that you have one.
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
August 28th, 2013 at 10:57
wangbumaximus21:
Naniniwala ako na kung ang mamumuno sa isang institusyon ay nasa tamang landas at may pangil (pagdidiin sa “may pangil”), kahit gaano kakurakot ang mga nasa ibaba, kung hindi man mawawala ang corruption, ito ay mababawasan.
Isang halimbawa ang BIR. Ang tiyahin ko ay halos dalawampung taon nang nagtatrabaho doon bilang auditor at pumasok siya doon sa paniniwalang kaya niyang baguhin ang sistema. Ngunit dahil auditor lang siya, hindi niya nagawang baguhin ito, bagkus ay napilitan siyang makisabay sa sistema dahil kung hindi ay maaaring mawalan siya ng trabaho.
Hanggang sa dumating ang kasalukuyang Commissioner. Ang mga auditor ay nag-aassess na ngayon ng mga tax deficiency at tumutulong na makakolekta ng tamang buwis. Sabi ng tiyahin ko, “Mangyayari rin pala ito. Buti na lang hindi ako umalis.”
Dati rin akong namasukan sa pasugalan ng gobyerno. Tulad ng tiyahin ko, pumasok ako doon sa paniniwalang kaya ko ring baguhin ang sistema. Umalis ako noong natanggap ko ang katotohanan na kung wala ka sa posisyon, wala kang magagawa. At wala akong tiyaga na maghintay ng sampu o dalawampung taon (dahil wala akong “backer”) para sa tamang posisyon. Ngayon ay kabi-kabilang isyu ang pinupukol sa pasugalang ito. Masarap sanang tumestigo, ngunit para saan? Hindi kailangangan ng mataas na IQ para matalos na guilty ang dating namuno dito.
Ano ang gusto kong sabihin? Hangga’t kaya, ituloy mo lang. Kung kaya mong mapunta sa mataas na posisyon, mas maigi kung gagawin mo ito nang mabilis. At kapag namumuno ka na, ilabas mo na ang iyong mga pangil upang baguhin ang sistema.
August 28th, 2013 at 20:50
Corruption is endemic.
Yung iba ayaw makialam kasi sila din ay nakikinabang. Yung iba ang rason ay takot at mayroon din namang iba who think that it’s a lost cause anyway so why bother? It’s a shame but it’s the truth and it’s sad.
Skin deep lang pagdedenounce nung iba kasi when opportunity presents itself na makapag-take advantage sila, willing sila to set aside ethical and moral considerations. Ang mindset kasi nila, everyone’s doing it anyway.
Such is evident sa school pa lang. Kapag lahat ng classmates mo nagchi-cheat at hindi ka nakikisali, ang tingin nila, KJ ka. Join the fun and nobody gets busted, everybody happy.
I know some students who are in law school kasi they’re aiming to be politicians in the future, most of them come from affluent families. They lie and cheat their way sa exams, some even act entitled. Some even go as far as saying na hindi sila magpapaka-ipokrito. They want to enter politics for perks and power. Most of them cheat to pass the exams. I wish they won’t pass the bar but even if they don’t, I doubt if they’d give up their political ambitions.
Sorry kung mahaba yung comment ko. Midterm season kasi.
August 28th, 2013 at 23:00
Your Grace, I actually had (until I read Your Grace’s reply) thoughts of getting out the web, but I also thought of economic matters–hindi na ako bumabata. Best advice (actually, my old folks–decent, honor-bound ala Starks [but not as, well, stickler like Eddard]–told me that). To the replies above, thank you for the insights and experience (pardon me, I know those kinds of experiences–observing and breathing that kind of stuffs, you know–). Well, this is not the first time I write something like that in “public,” I did that in an assignment for a graduate course in another state university to which my teacher enjoyed reading it (and sympathized and gave her word to keep it to herself). It’s a tough battle indeed, but I need to practice patience (and lots of Zen-focused mentality). Salamat.
August 28th, 2013 at 23:05
Not to read the novel (Crime and Punishment) is a CRIME, but to read it is a PUNISHMENT. Long live Kierkegaard!
August 28th, 2013 at 23:45
wangbumaximus21: We love Dostoevsky, but you are right.
You brought up GoT. It is extremely difficult to be a Stark in a Lannister world, but look at Tyrion. He’s basically decent, and he’s trying. “And ofttimes a very small man can cast a very large shadow.”