the corrupting effect of always blaming corruption for our woes

When I pressed him to answer the top three problems that the Philippines have on the short term and on the long term, he said "... corruption!"

If we are going for a high score in rhetorics, that answer is absolutely perfect. Don't get me wrong, corruption is really a problem. But my problem with the "corruption problem" is the fact that it is as old as humanity. It's like saying we will never solve it. If that's the case, why even bother stating a problem that will never be solved = )

But of course, there were brief and so far in between moments in our history where corruption was controlled. But only to resurface again. Well, that's that.

But, maybe, we have mistakenly identified The Problem.

I mean, even if the solution is right to the "wrong problem", since it is the "wrong problem" the right problem still exists and continues to wreck havoc. It's like prescribing headache medications when the real problem is that it is time to wear a pair of glasses.

The corruption in our government will still exist and it will be, sadly, in steroids soon.

Why do I say that?

Well, our country, the "pearl of the orient" Philippines is in a period where it has to invest so much and serious money in infrastructure to make herself competitive once more. She has to dynamically LINK all her islands into a network of economically thriving markets. Markets that does a healthy business locally, regionally and globally.

And this "infrastructure" is worth so much that all the past corruption cases that have managed to catch our anger and wrath will look like a puddle of mud compared to the depths of the Philippine Deep = )

Corruption exists because money exists. And corruption intensifies as volume and size of the transaction increases. So, as the Philippines accelerates in investing in its infrastructure expect corruption to accelerate, too.

The key thing here is to answer what makes "corruption" gain that bravado? What gives the people that courage to accelerate the hoarding of so much ill-gotten wealth?

The answer is the status quo and the people that benefit from the status quo = )

For all the headlines that the ZTE deal got, where the Filipinos shown the process of how the Philippine Government goes about the acquisition of 21st century essentials like a broadband network to link all government offices nationwide to better serve its citezenry?

We heard the story of how the power players went around the process with ease to enrich themselves but how come they can go around the process with ease in the first place?

If we are already comfortable with blaming corruption as the root of all these mess, then, corruption has already corrupted our minds so much that we are now unable to think = )

Thy will be done, Lord!