We are part of the problem

Mariano Carrasco

WE have seen graft and corruption in government, and we have somehow tolerated it, allowed it,  cooperated with it, and even encouraged it. We are part of the problem.

My lawyer-wife Atty. Evangeline Carrasco, who is a candidate for the second congressional district of Cagayan de Oro, repeatedly says in her speeches to the point of sounding trite and boring that “we should not sell our votes.” This is a constant message by Comelec, Namfrel, PPCRV, but it does sound like a “broken record.” After all, right after the elections these institutions would then come out with announcements or news that, by and large, the elections were “peaceful and clean”—even if  vote-buying and vote-selling was really massive, and it happened with the people’s direct or indirect cooperation, or knowledge. And not a single individual gets charged criminally, much less convicted for the crime of vote-buying or vote-selling. We are really funny, or stupid, as  a people.

When we follow up things with the government offices or transact business, we would look for connections from the inside, and we even offer bribes, or tips, or expressions of gratitude for facilitating the approval of documents, contracts, and permits. This is corrupt because then public officials and employees would acquire the habit of helping only those who shell out grease money or those who give “gifts.” The poor will then find that his papers or transactions remain unacted or unattended for a long time, and he is made to come back to the government office repeatedly.

We complain about graft and corruption, but when we have property transactions with the BIR, we conspire with some officials from within for the lowering of taxes as appearing in the official receipts, even if we have really given more than what appears therein, and we are salivating on the idea that we have paid less than what was “computed” by the BIR officials.

We know that some people in the LTFRB—the office that processes the franchises for PU jeepneys, taxis and buses— are demanding 40 to 50 thousand pesos for the issuance of a single franchise per unit, but officially issues a receipt for just about  P2,500! We all know that racket. Even the mayor and the city councilors know that, but nobody says or does anything about it. Not even the congressmen. No citizen is brave enough to come forward to file a complaint or to execute an affidavit-complaint. I hate to say this because the director of that office is a friend, but what can he say? He will just ask: is there anybody complaining? Where is the affidavit-complaint? We really cannot blame him alone. Nobody is brave enough to come forward. There is none!

Way back in high school, I received this booklet entitled “Freedom is for the Brave” written by Atty. Homobono Adaza, and I think it is true. If we remain cowards, then we really deserve this kind of government and this kind of society. He, he.

Incidentally, Carrasco’s posters, placed at the common poster area at Lapasan as designated by the Comelec which had been there for three weeks, suddenly disappeared yesterday! Somebody took them down. My wife’s posters are very minimal since we don’t have funds and we never solicited money from big companies or even from clients. Perhaps for every 1 poster she has, the other candidates have about 50 to 100 posters. She could not even secure spots or programs on radio and TV since they are expensive. A one-minute radio spot costs P12 thousand and a one-hour radio program costs P100 thousand! Time will come when good men and women will shun elections or would no longer run for elective positions knowing so well that money and vote-buying will prevail. Then, our government will constantly be in the hands of corrupt leaders, and our society will continually suffer.

 (Mariano B. Carrasco is a lawyer based in Cagayan de Oro.)