LitWit Challenge: The Corruptibles
The Napoles case, the Commission on Audit report, the anti-pork barrel rally—corruption is the theme in the news (as if no news of corruption means no corruption) and the theme of this LitWit Challenge.
In 1,500 words or less, write us a story involving corruption—in the government, the judiciary, the military/police, the academe, the clergy, private enterprise, anywhere. Big-time corruption, petty corruption, AC/DC (attack and collect/defend and collect) in the media, bribes and “commissions” on official contracts, grease money for processing documents, kotong “pang-merienda” in traffic, there is no shortage of examples. You can draw on personal experience, get the information from the news, or make it all up. It can be horrifying, satirical, bleak-existentialist, or revenge fantasy. Knock yourselves out.
The deadline: 12 noon of 14 September 2013.
The prize: Hardcover editions of Dear Life by Alice Munro and Laura Lamont’s Life in Pictures by Emma Straub.
The LitWit Challenge is brought to you by our friends at National Bookstore.
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
September 2nd, 2013 at 23:52
madame, nbs is having its cutprice book sale. can you do a post again where we exchange notes on our loots? good to promote litwit sponsor’s promo at the same time. thanks.
September 3rd, 2013 at 00:10
turmukoy: On behalf of our sponsor, thanks for the idea.
September 6th, 2013 at 17:29
In Vino Veritas
You take your final swig from your fourth glass of vodka. I drink what remains of my sixth. We have been drinking for almost two hours. You are still talking about American Beauty and boredom smiles at me with your beating-around-the-bush style, the tactic you carefully deploy since you must have realized I am not the credulous type.
Of course I see through you. Play-safe asshole that you are, the likes of you will always aim for the surest and cleanest way in or out of an enterprising rut. I recognized your inclinations as soon as you stepped in the old man’s office for the final interview. Hah, A. Lange & Sohne for someone who earns only half a million pesos a year with three mouths to feed? I would have stamped your resume REJECT but the old man said he wanted you. That is how things must go.
“Are we getting another round?”
You raise a question that makes me smile sardonically.
“We are. In a little while. The glasses are beginning to spin.”
“I’m sorry if I talked too much about Kevin Spacey’s character.”
“It’s okay. I especially liked how you relayed the scene about Lester blackmailing Brad. It would have been grand if you succeeded on your similar attempt with me.”
“I was simply sharing a funny bit.”
“Really?”
“Honestly. In vino veritas.”
I give you a calculating stare, comical enough to be credible.
“All right. Know what? If I feel like drinking a lot, like tonight, I don’t care if I have to crawl to get to our front door.”
“But you’re not a drinker.”
“True. Maybe the record is six times a year, only with men I truly trust. But those six times are sure to give new meaning to the word wasted. So tonight, you’re taking me home to my wife and you’ll explain why I got so drunk. I’m getting us another round. Carlo!”
I succeed in delivering my final round of bullshit as the bartender delivers our last round of vodkas. I excuse myself to relieve my bladder.
***
“I have a confession to make.”
Finally. Your fourth swig from your fifth vodka glass is about to give you away.
“Shoot.”
“I got a preventive suspension. Somebody sent an e-mail to RGM, attached zipped files of all my e-mail correspondences with suppliers and other confidential PDFs.”
“What were you accused of?”
“That I’ve been getting at least 20% cut on every project and—”
“We’re talking of at least two million pesos here, in a roughly ten million-peso business.”
“Thing is, someone else had access to my desktop.”
“How strong is your password?”
“No one could’ve figured it out.”
“Someone had.”
“Perhaps that someone planted a bug in my hard drive to decode my password, then sent fictitious e-mails on my behalf and uploaded files.”
“How do you plead?”
“No matter how bad it looks, I’m not guilty. That’s my confession.”
“Well, I’m thinking, perhaps someone mirrored your hard drive in a separate computer and purged all data from there. Perhaps all the computers in the company have mirrored drives. Perhaps someone’s obsession was to gauge every employee’s loyalty to the company. You might have been doing the deed for months, they might have had an inkling of it since day one. They waited for irrefutable evidence and went for your neck as soon as they got it.”
“Are our IT guys that tough?”
“Nope. But someone in the office is geeky enough to accomplish that.”
“Who?”
“The COO.”
“COO?”
“I know you all call me that behind my back. Child Of Owner.”
“I never did.”
“In vino veritas.”
Silence is deafening as the battle of wills thickens. Your hot gaze against my poker face, you inevitably lose.
“You don’t happen to know a lot about computers, don’t you?”
“Contrary to what most of you believe, I’m a graduate of BS Computer Science with a specialization in Information Security, unlike my dad who’s an architect.”
This is the moment when all your colors fade away and your face becomes nothing but a white raisin. I do not tear my gaze away from you as I gulp what remains of my seventh and final glass of vodka. You stare back at me, eyebrows furrowed and jaw clenched. I replace the glass on the bar with a loud clink. I notice your strength is at the tip of your fingers, anchored on your vodka glass.
“Pick up the tab. Expect a lawsuit.”
I stand up as I remove my jacket from the armrest, straighten my shirt and non-denim jeans then walk away from the bar, and I stop as I approach the revolving door, arrested by the sound of glass crashing on the floor behind my feet.
September 6th, 2013 at 18:28
Erratum: *This is the moment when all your colors fade away and your face resembles nothing but a white raisin.
September 8th, 2013 at 22:39
silentfollower: Thank you for sending in the first entry. Ang susyal ng korupsyon dito! The watch reference is a nice choice; along with the film discussion it establishes the perp’s social background. And yet the perp has no character. Everything we know about him, we get from the narrator (ex. “play-safe asshole”), and the narrator is less interested in describing the man he is drinking with than with telling us how perceptive and clever he is (“I give you a calculating stare, comical enough to be credible.”)
Then after five vodkas, the presumably devious operator gives himself away completely. That would be convincing only if you’d established that the perp is uneasy and wants to confess, or if the narrator had set a devious trap that he walked into. Also, the narrator’s revelation would have more of an impact if, earlier in the story, the perp had treated him as a sucker or intellectual inferior.
There’s a story somewhere in here. Why not try telling it from the point of view of the perp?
September 9th, 2013 at 11:15
Thank you, Your Grace, for reading my entry and for the valuable comments.
It’s difficult to give life to the perp–siya ay plorera. I will try my best to submit a revised entry on time, though I am not here to win but to learn.
Thank you very much again, Your Grace.
September 14th, 2013 at 10:32
“Wala kayo sa lolo ko!” sigaw ni Brevs.
“Ano ba pupunta ba tayo dyan talaga?” Ayokong magsimula na naman kami sa bidahang walang pupuntahan.
Pinag-uusapan nami nila Brevs at Dims ang kaso ni Napoles at ang mga kakutsaba niyang Senador at Kongresista. Pati na rin ang OTJ, ang action movie nila Piolo, Gerald at Joel Torre na kapapanood lang namin.
“Jo, grabe naman talaga, sabi nga ng momsi ko, wala man lang tinitira para talaga sa tao.”
“May kwento ako. Tunay. iron-chef OTJ meets baryang Napoles. Pero shoot. Totoo talaga. Tito ko. Peks,” banat ni Dims.
“Sige na nga at baka maiyak kami o matawa kaya.”
BFF kaming tatlo since first sem first year sa kursong Criminology, graduating na sa Marso, sa isang u-belt college. Only girl sa barkada, parang kuya ko na si Brevs and Dims. Mga promding bagong salta ng freshmen year namin. Now
medyo at home na sa anik-anik ng Manila. Favorite naming tambayan ang karinderya ilang hakbang sa gate ng school namin.
“Tito ko pa-ekstra ekstra lang sya. Nagluluto sa mga handaan ganyan. May nakilala syang ahente, may trabaho daw sa cruise ship. Sila daw ang recruiting firm.”
“Tagal naman. Gisingin mo kami pag umusad na kwento. Peace!”
“Brevs shut up nga sandali. Ini-establish pa po ni Dims ang story, ok.”
At nakinig nga kami ni Brevs sa kwento ni Dims.
“Nag-aabang sya sa Jollibee sa may Magallanes, meeting place nila ng ahente. Dala nya yung placement fee. Nakita na nya papasok yung ahente kinawayan nya at sinigawan. Di nya namalayan. Bigla na lang may naglagay ng posas
sa kanya. Kasabwat daw nya ang ahente. Sa presinto daw magpaliwanag.”
“Ano? Teka. Bilis naman. Pano nangyari yun? Di pa sya nga nire-recruit?”
“Jo, yun na nga. Sobrang bilis. May pinahawak kasi dati yung ahente na list ng mga kasamahan nyang ipro-process kasabayan nya. Nakita ng mga pulis. Caught in the act daw. Nakulong Tito Jun ko nang isa’t kalahating taon.” Large-scale illegal recruitment. No bail recommended. Yung mga arresting police aminadong wrong arrest nang makausap na nila Tito ko pero wala pa din. Sa bagal ng justice system, sa kaka-postpone, magpapa-dismiss lang ng case sa isang accused aabutin pa ng taon. May tumulong naman sa kanyang lawyer. Kakila ng kaibigan.
Pro-bono, practice para sa bagong pasa.”
“Asan na yung OTJ?”
“Di ba sila Joel Torre at Gerald mga hitmen? Yung tito ko, pinapalabas sya, tawid lang sa Nepa-Q para mamalengke! Iron chef! Na-gets nyo? Hanggang dun nagamit nya yung pagiging cook nya. Pinagluluto nya yung mayor sa loob,
sya nagbibigay ng pamalengke. Extrang pinapakain na yung mga bantay. After a month lang naging assistant sya ng mayor. Good boy naman din sya sa mga bantay. Lumilibot-libot lang sya sa Nepa-Q, pagtagal umaabot na hanggang Cubao sa paghanap ng mga pabili. T-shirt na pangregalo, textbook, bag. Parang purchasing officer. Pasyal-pasyal din ganun. Basta bumalik lang sya para may time magluto ng hapunan.”
“Ano ba yan? Parang di naman. Hmm.” sabi ko.
“Weird nga pero walang pinag-iba. Gamitan lang. Syempre ok naman sa Tito ko, makagala man lang sa maghapon. Parang daily pass binigay sa kanya. Nakakakain ng masarap yung mayor at kakosa nya, damay pati mga guards. Tito ko naka praktis din ng cooking skills nya.”
“Asan na yung Napoles part?” Naiinip na si Brevs.
“Yung lawyer nya tinanggap sya as part-time assistant. Tito ko rin may gusto, maka thank you man lang sa lawyer nya at nakalabas sya. Ayun, nakita nya pano gumalaw ang justice system. Lagay lagay lang pag may time. Raffle pa lang ng case pwede mo na mapakiusapang ma raffle sa court na gusto mo. Sheriff pamasahe daw pang serve. Lahat pati yung fiscal para di na makialam sa annulment. Painom sa judge. Sa clerk para ma type court orders.”
“Yan po ang expect natin pag naging lawyers na tayo. Yahooo!”
“Jo, sabi ng konsehal sa amin dami ng bagong developments para mapabilis kaso. Sa twenty years nya sa practice madaming bagong procedures. Medyo mawawalan na ng raket yung mga staff ng judges at judges na rin.
Pero tingin ko mapapalitan lang mga raket nila.”
“Pati sa mga government agencies at city hall ganun din. Tito ko naglalakad ng mga papers. Pag kukuha nga mga kailangang documents SOP na yung extra para malagay requests mo sa first in line na pipirmahan at lalabas. Try nya di magpadulas, ayun freezer yung mga requests. Minsan gagawan pa ng istoryang kesyo ganun ganun, di pwede kasi may nakita silang mali sa documents. Hay. Friendly naman Tito ko at naka establish sya ng mga contacts.”
“Tuwid na daan! Korak.” Nagpigil kami ng mga tawa namin.
“Lahat talaga. mapa taas mapa baba. Ganun ba talaga tayong mga Pinoy? It’s more fun in the Philippines!”