Administrative Law, Public Officers & Election Law

Atty. Tony La Vina

Movie: Sa Kabila ng Lahat (1991)
Discussion by:
Carl Fredson Au (Carl)
Karla Rose Gutierrez (Karla)
Denise Guiao (Denise)
Alvin Rufino (Alvin

1. How different is the Philippines of 2014 from the Philippines of 1991(when movie
was filmed)? Has corruption/impunity continued, worsened or diminished?
CARL: Not much difference, today rampant cases of corruption are still prevalent
especially in our authorities. Just recently we have a case where 7 police officer
or more are the suspects of kidnapping/serious illegal detention and extortion of
ransom of two businessmen who went to Manila. Also we have alleged graft
charges against our Vice President and the Mayor of Makati (Binay) for the
construction of an overpriced city hall building amounting to 4 billion pesos.
(Obviously, they entered into a contract highly disadvantageous to the
government amounting to charges in the Anti-graft law). In fact corruption seems
to be, more or less, the same.
KARLA: Unfortunately, it remains the same. The symptoms of a lost nation eat
through the people like cancer. Time and again symbols of unity, of democracy, of
independence and of freedom as in the words are put on a pedestal, printed on
shirts and forgotten after a benefit concert. I read once that, we should have a
bomb for each of us so that it can blow up in our faces so we can sit dazed and
confused wondering what we have done we are so called intellect! Sure, that
may be some sort of figure of speech but really, why havent we been thinking
rationally? Isnt that enough to behoove us to remember that we have failed many

times in what we initially thought as the solution-in-a-person and instant-cure

and that choosing so recklessly, came with a very costly consequence? Two
legitimate revolutions and we still havent changed a single bit.
DENISE: The movie, "Sa Kabila ng Lahat" started out showing clips of the
different problems that our country encountered back in 1991. The government
was corrupt, there was pollution everywhere, including the mountains of garbage
where people decided to live in order to stay closer to the supposed source of
their livelihood, and even drug and poverty problems exhibited by the children
inhaling rugby on the streets. Comparing those scenarios with the present,
honestly, there's really not much of a difference. Poverty, has, in no way
diminished, "rugby boys" can still be seen all over the metro, and pollution has
only worsened over the years.
But more importantly, corruption/impunity within the political arena has only
worsened over time. Our politicians have just grown more creative these days
and constantly find new ways to steal the people's money.
False NGOs have been established, scapegoats are every where, unwillingly
taking the fall for bigger personalities whose names may not be tarnished, and
many other ongoing corruption that continue in the background without the
people's knowledge.
ALVIN: Almost the same. Corruption continues to worsen. Government officials
tend to be wiser in doing things around. Clout has always been around and has
been gravely abused for the sake of personal interests. The only thing that set the
then and now corruption is the official(s) who do it and regardless of whether they
do it differently, it is still corruption.

2. Has the tuwid na daan approach of PNoy made a difference in reducing corruption or
are we still corrupt as before?
CARL: We have to acknowledge efforts from the current administration for trying

to clean corruption by prosecuting those corrupt officials, however these

movements seem to be more politically inclined/influenced, as only enemies of
the current administration are being prosecuted. Overall I can say that the
administration did something but failed to deliver its promise or reached its
standard of substantially removing corruption in the government.
KARLA: To be honest, Ill say the only fighting PNOY has been doing is his own.
His vendetta against his enemies had them jailed. Some justified, some
excessive and downright childish (i.e. attack on the Supreme Court). Yes, there
may have been a crackdown on government crooks but I disagree with Carl no
reduction -only a replacement of faces in the disgusting padrino system. Same
old trapos in the guise of a new breed of politicians are abusing all the media
mileage. Their corruption reeks in the grass root level, and I can smell it from a
simple visit in some government offices. They put supposed idealistic people,
only to be too excited of getting a kickback. The difference is, the media, with Kris
Aquino, the Lopezes and their allies in the TV business, no bad press is made.
DENISE: he "tuwid na daan" approach of President Aquino, in my opinion, has
honestly NOT AT ALL made a difference in reducing the corruption in the country.
It has only pushed these politicians to be more innovative in their ways. Indeed,
the President claims to have put in position and to support righteous officers who
want nothing more than to improve the situation in the Philippines, but the results
seem to indicate otherwise. The Pork Barrel scam occurred during his term and
although the Government claims to be investigating this issue with great priority, I
cannot help but doubt such assertions.
ALVIN: Yes. I think "tuwid na daan" ideology might have been lessening the
corruption. It's good that PNoy is trying to lead us in this direction, but a loner
cannot do this by himself, he needs all of us to cooperate. In order for us to attain
unity of purpose, we must believe that one direction could lead us to good
government. But if our leader himself exemplifies selective animosity, I don't think
we could go on smoothly with his view. Indeed, there are obvious efforts that we
have to recognize here but we can only appreciate so much, thus a long way to
go for us.

3. What explains corruption in the Philippines? What is its root causes?

CARL: I think corruption has more or less become a culture for our country; the
root cause of this is poverty and lack of education. The officials who are engage
in corruption may be rich and all but the only reason why they are put or elected
into office is that these "corrupt" officials were easily able to manipulate the vote
of majority of the voters of our country which are those below or near the poverty
line (i.e. vote buying, promise of better living standards, bribery). Also the
aforementioned people were easily persuaded of not making vote under their
own discretion was caused by the lack of education in our country, which ideally
would entail them to make smarter votes.
KARLA: Lack of education and a small middle class. More education mean
smarter votes. Smarter votes mean better representation. Further, vigilance
comes from the civil society, the middle class but it is small. The middle class
citizens are the educated part of the population, smart enough to reason out but
immersed enough to know the grievances of the masses and people in general. If
we can bloat this sector, there might be a tangible change. We are a backward
nation oligarchy-infested, feudal and totally passive. The only way is to run
against the norm, the unacceptable norm, ironically.
DENISE: Greed and practice are the ones to blame for corruption in the
Philippines. Basically put, these officials, once put in position, and get their hands
in some money become greedy and forget, at least for some, the whole reason
why they ran for office in the first place. They forget that the people of the
Philippines are in dire need of assistance as regards getting a better life, or being
uplifted from living below the poverty line. They become selfish and serve only
themselves.
Moreover, even assuming that there are those who come in with good intentions,
such are slowly tainted by the thought of "every one else is doing it." People,
naturally do not want to be outsmarted and try to outsmart, else they become the
victims.

ALVIN: The root cause of corruption is our Filipino governance culture, or what
we say, "how we do things here". It's not a matter of how one politician does it,
but how the people around him think in doing things around. If most still accept
that corruption is normal and is better for them because of the clout they can
abuse all the time, then I don't think we can solve the problem right away. As we
can see, it is always a matter of perception and approval. We must not accept
what has been usual and thus we need, in our own selves, to resist the
temptation of corruption. Let's not wait for them to change, let's change.