‘Standard practice’

A lot of the troubles plaguing our country today stem from a deeply entrenched set of disturbing practices – passed on from one administration to another, from one generation to the next, from boss to boss and so on.

Standard practice, indeed. That’s the reason the office of detained Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, who is currently at the Quezon City Jail in Payatas for plunder, cited in explaining why the office of the Senate president pro tempore that he turned over to Sen. Tito Sotto was stripped of everything – from tiles to toilets and yes, including the perks, pomp and trappings of power.

Kalakaran

Nearly every institution in the Philippines has its share of such “traditions.”

“Kalakaran” was how the taxi driver that picked me up the other day put it. Let me briefly share my experience on that ride. We took a side trip to a gas station because his gauge was already blinking. There was a long queue of jeepneys and tricycles. This station sold gasoline cheaper by P5, said the cabbie.

I was not happy with the stopover because I was in a rush to get home. That, plus, honestly, I was desperate to get out of the cab because it was scorching hot and the aircon was not working.

We were in line for about 15 minutes, and counting.

I was about to get pissed when I saw that, after all the trouble, he merely paid for P200 worth of gasoline. That’s just roughly two liters of gasoline.

That’s all he could afford, he said. Times are so hard.

Yet, he went on, the country’s politicians do nothing but run for elections and steal once in power. “Kalakaran na,” he said, nonchalantly.

Sad but oh so true.

There’s the Friday payday at the Aduana, which I heard from different sources when I was covering the Bureau of Customs many years ago. People would split payoffs every Friday. The same is true at the Bureau of Internal Revenue, at least when I was covering it. Desks are opened so that people transacting with the bureau can easily slip grease money for smoother transactions.

The Land Transportation Office is likewise a notorious hotbed of fixers. You can get a license, a student permit or a registration faster than a kettle could boil your water, as long as you pay the hefty tab.

Even in the police academy, a newly graduated police officer who had just spent months enduring the hardships of training – blood, sweat, tears, plus mud, rain and all – says it’s hard to “go against the tide” once they get assigned to the police stations and work with the older generation of policemen.

In Senator Jinggoy’s case, he is correct in saying that it’s a practice at the Senate. I know because I asked my sources.

“It must also be emphasized that similar instances of dismantling fixtures and materials from a vacated senator’s office have occurred in the recent past,” Estrada’s office said in a statement.

True enough, Estrada isn’t the first senator to bequeath a useless office.

And there’s the rub.

A lot of these standard practices, SOPs or kalakaran, as the cabbie put it so well, aren’t necessarily right or for the good of everyone.

And yet, people do it, just because it’s the norm.

Some who try to go against the system are labeled as troublemakers, misfits or mentally deranged.

I have readers sending me reports of some of these corrupt practices because they simply could not stand just watching from the sidelines.

There is a government agency that procures overpriced goods and services, for instance. When a whistleblower tried to expose the practice, the employee was fired, ostracized and labeled as disgruntled.

End the cycle

But one does not have to be a whistleblower or a “troublemaker.” One can simply refuse to perpetuate such a vicious cycle of disturbing practices.

In the case of offices at the Senate, for example, why couldn’t a senator just deviate from the standard practice and do what’s better?

It can be done and it’s been done.

When Sen. Chiz Escudero’s term as Senate president came to an abrupt end, I heard that he did not take away anything from the Office of the Senate President except his personal paintings and some stuff.

The desks and dividers were transferred to the office he moved into.

Why strip an office naked knowing that you won’t have any use for the dismantled tiles and fixtures anyway?

It is normal to keep the tables, chairs and others that can easily be moved, but to dismantle permanent fixtures just so the next user won’t be able to use them is pathetic. And selfish.

Why not just let it go? If senators used personal funds for their office improvements – possible but highly unlikely – why not just donate the improved office to the next user, for the sake of the institution and the office?

Why leave it unfit for one’s successor to occupy?

More importantly, why keep doing it just because it’s standard practice?

Hopefully, the younger generations of leaders, politicians and government employees will do better.

As I said, a lot of the troubles plaguing our country today are due to the usual kalakaran – a generational curse of sorts.

Someone has to be willing to break the cycle.

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