As the Executive Director of the Makati Business Club, Rafael Ongpin (oldest son of the late Jaime V. Ongpin, one of the staunchest CEOs responsible for the fall of the martial law regime in 1986) remarked in an interview, President BBM deserves some credit for the ongoing drive against corruption, particularly in public works. In the final analysis, though, he said that it is the Filipino citizens as voters who could ultimately “punish” corrupt politicians. As we saw in the last article, unless there is a critical mass of Filipinos who live the social virtues of working for the common good, the necessary institutional reforms will have limited results.

We must, however, build strong political institutions based on honesty, competence, and justice if we are to at least minimize, if not totally eradicate, corruption in our public life. This is what we learn from the works of Nobel Prize winners in Economics, James Robinson and Daron Acemoglu, in their path-breaking book entitled Why Nations Fail. According to them, the keys to transforming a Third World country to a First World one are strong institutions and the correct economic policies.

The Philippines is no longer the “sick man of Asia” because over the last thirty years or so, despite a good number of very imperfect political leaders, some of the nation’s best and brightest technocrats have been slowly and painfully building strong institutions like our Central Bank, the Department of the Economy, Planning and Development (formerly NEDA), the Department of Trade and Industry, the Department of Finance, and a few other Executive departments (with the notable exception of the DPWH). Because of these stronger institutions, despite the fact that our political world is still filled with incompetent and corrupt individuals, our economy has become one of the fastest growing in the Indo-Pacific region, together with India and Vietnam. It has also helped that some of our worst economic policies—such as the utter neglect of countryside and agricultural development, the puny investments in infrastructure, and the limits to foreign direct investments in strategic sectors—have been amended.

What we need now are equally significant improvements in our political institutions. Providentially, the ongoing political crisis resulting from the massive corruption revolving around flood control and other key infrastructure projects has prompted a group of top officials from the Christian churches, the Philippine business community, the academe, and civil society to come out with a very concrete list of drastic reforms necessary to reduce, if not eradicate, rampant corruption.

Let me quote here from the demands recently made by the Roundtable for Inclusive Development (RFID) addressed to the Government:

“In solidarity with our Bishops from both Catholic and Evangelical Churches across the country, we reaffirm our commitment to our Democracy and call for action against wanton plunder being perpetrated by both elected and appointed officials in government. We share in their message of caution for our people as selfish interests continue to tap into their heightened anger to advance political agendas that have little regard for the plight of families and communities, especially those who are victims of recent spate of natural calamities, some made worse by man-made risks and government inaction.”...

“We laud the Independent Commission on Infrastructure (ICI) that, despite its many limitations, has actually been doing our country invaluable service gathering the data, receiving and vetting voluminous testimonies, and tapping both government, private, and civil society resources, including countless hours of voluntary services to make the key recommendations we all demand for: who are liable, who are responsible, and who should go to jail.”

“We call on Congress to accelerate the passage of legislation creating the Independent People’s Commission that would create a truly independent and credible investigatory body—one capable of conducting impartial inquiries free from political interference. We enjoin the President to reaffirm his commitment to addressing corruption by certifying this as urgent….

“We further ask Congress to enact the following long-overdue reforms that promote transparency, accountability, and meaningful participation as long-standing structural challenges posed by patronage politics are at the root of the wanton systematic plunder of the nation’s coffers: the ban on political dynasties; a budget transparency act; the Freedom of Information Act; Party Development reforms; a comprehensive review of the flawed party list system; and a comprehensive review of the three-decade-old Local Government Code to strengthen genuine people’s participation, including sectoral representation.”

Thanks to the Roundtable for Inclusive Development, we have a very concrete list of political institutions that can be established and/or strengthened in the same manner that economic institutions like the Central Bank had been fortified over the last three decades, making possible the recovery of the Philippines from the “sick man of Asia” to one of the fastest growing economies in the Indo-Pacific region.

Once again, we have to remember that even the strongest institutions can be frustrated if there are too many individuals whose greed or evil intentions move them to circumvent even the strictest laws or strongest institutions. This was recently illustrated in a report in a business daily by Patricia Mirasol. Referring to how the Government is now turning to technology to combat corruption, she reports of how blockchain ledgers, livestreamed bidding, and satellite mapping are being employed to track how every peso of public works spending moves—and whether something actually gets built. It seems that at least 10 blockchain-related bills are pending in Congress. However, a former Undersecretary at the Department of Information and Technology, Jeffrey Ian C. Dy, warned that “Blockchain won’t prevent collusion among vendors and government officials.” Technology, regulations, and legislation are not substitutes to nurturing the appropriate civic or social virtues among as many individuals as possible. There are no short cuts to achieving a predominantly incorrupt society.

The same can be said about current efforts to legislate against political dynasties. Following the mandate of the Philippine Constitution, the Akbayan bloc in the House has filed a bill seeking to ban political dynasties, which is also one of the demands of the RFID, as mentioned above. Efforts to ban political dynasties through legislation may be quixotic, to say the least.

This critique was very well described in an article by Dr. Nick Alviar, Dean of the School of Politics and Governance of the University of Asia and the Pacific. In an essay entitled “Political Dynasties: To ban or not to ban” in a business daily, Dr. Alviar commented:

“The quick solution is clearly stated in Article 2, section 26 of the current Constitution which prohibits political dynasties as may be defined by law. But we know that implementing this provision is wishful thinking because our political dynasty-infested Congress will never pass that enabling law…. Besides, if we ban political dynasties outrightly through a piece of legislation, it will not be easy to find alternatives who can take over their rule right away. Who will replace them in the various localities all over the country? Do we have enough people now with the dispositions who are ready and competent to run government in lieu of political dynasties?”

Dr. Alviar then enumerates the various sectors of society who can engage with political dynasties and reform them from within. There is the business community exemplified by the Makati Business Club (and others in the regions like the Iloilo Business Club, the Baguio Business Club, etc.) who are actively working with Local Government Units to run their respective municipalities with greater competence and integrity. There are think tanks and training institutes like the Institute for Corporate Directors (ICD) and Institute for the Solidarity of Asia (ISA) that inculcate good governance practices in private enterprises, government bureaus, and LGUs. Religious institutions, exemplified by the Catholic Bishops, are taking a more active role in instilling morals, love for the truth, and service to society among members of political dynasties. Universities, especially the big four of Metro Manila, where many of the scions of political dynasties study, can also help inculcate the appropriate values of patriotism, integrity, and real concern for the common good among these potential political leaders.

Once again, we are reminded by these suggestions of Dr. Alviar that institutional reforms are necessary for uprooting corruption. But they are not sufficient. There is no substitute to having a sufficient number of citizens who will do the right things because of moral convictions rather than the fear of going to jail.