The ZTE NBN crooks must be punished!

A man who has never gone to school may steal from a freight car, but if he has a university education he may steal the whole railroad. — Theodore Roosevelt

Power does not corrupt. Fear corrupts … perhaps the fear of a loss of power. — John Steinbeck

Our worst enemies here are not the ignorant and simple, however cruel; our worst enemies are the intelligent and corrupt. — Graham Greene

Why is it that problems about corrupt politicians almost always haunt us every time the Philippine economy is on the verge of takeoff? Is the real long-term solution just kicking out or kicking the butts of these corrupt politicians?  That may not be enough!

I propose that we go further, that we institutionalize certain structural reforms to prevent future large-scale corruption like the alleged multi-billion-peso bribes and overpricing on that harebrained and useless project called the National Broadband Network (NBN):

• I propose that the Senate and House of Representatives increase the monthly salaries, housing subsidies and pension benefits of the President of the Republic, the Vice President, cabinet secretaries, all legislators, all military and police officers, governors, mayors and others in order to prevent and minimize temptation.

Instead of every occupant of Malacañang Palace being paid about a thousand US dollars per month, why not make it several million pesos in salaries per year, plus free decent housing for retirement that befits their prestige, plus other lifetime pensions?

Many of our politicians have for ages been lying to the public by mouthing false platitudes about truth and public service on incredibly unreasonable and unrealistic low salaries, while at the same time justifying their nefarious corruption by saying to themselves and others that they simply needed money. Public service? Self-service!

Where to source the additional salaries? Simple arithmetic: if we drastically lessen the limitless corruption that wastes tens or hundreds of billions per year, then we can easily afford to give market-driven salaries to all state leaders and bureaucrats!

• In exchange for raising the salaries of state officials, I demand that we simultaneously increase the penalties and harsh punishments for corruption. Can we not please restore the death penalty for plunder, corruption and other similar inimical acts of the so-called public servants who abuse our public trust and make a mockery of our democracy? If our politicos are squeamish about punishing their peers, I hereby volunteer to be the one to publicly shoot corrupt, high-ranking politicians and crooked generals every week in the Luneta. My only request is that this should be televised live on TV and that the bullets be charged to the criminals!

• Why don’t we explore state funding for legitimate and duly accredited political parties to prevent or minimize our politicians from forever scrounging for funds, begging or stealing by hook or by crook? In some countries like Australia, the government gives public funding to political parties for advertising purposes in elections.  Is this at all possible, or is this just an illusory and idealistic pipe dream?

• Election campaign reforms should be strictly implemented, especially on the limits to electioneering expenditures. How can we realistically expect our politicians — who spend billions of pesos to win their elective positions — not to somehow diabolically think of ways to recoup their expenses through all kinds of moneymaking rackets? Let us then put a stop to excessive election spending in the hopes that this might “moderate their greed.”

• All major government projects, contracts or proposed expenditures must go through public bidding and exhaustive third-party audits — not by government agencies led by political appointees — but by reputable non-government organizations, business chambers or multi-sectoral groups.  Institutional and systemic reforms must be implemented to stop the ceaseless wholesale thievery in government!

• Crime or corruption does not pay. This should be the slogan we should uphold and pound into the heads of all our politicos, generals, judges and bureaucrats nationwide! Ever since we started democratic politics in these isles, how many of the so-called “big fish” among our politicians, generals, judges, governors or mayors have we ever convicted of corruption, plunder, malversation of funds, betrayal of public trust, perjury, conflict-of-interest deals, nepotism, cronyism, and other crimes against the people?

Whoever gets hit, we should be merciless and unequivocal in applying the letter and spirit of our many laws. There should be consequences and punishments for all criminals!

If a hungry, unemployed person steals pan de sal from a bakery or a student steals a person’s cell phone on the streets for his tuition, he is arrested, prosecuted in court and allowed to languish in jail for these misdemeanors or petty crimes; why then do we not do the same for the innumerable grand felonies committed by our political, military, police, judiciary, bureaucratic big shots and local datus?

If nobody in the abominable ZTE NBN larceny is ever arrested, prosecuted expeditiously in court and then hauled off to life imprisonment — the keys I suggest be thrown into the Pasig River without bail or clemency or the future possibility of a pardon — then there shall be no end to this culture of impunity.

If there shall be no justice and closure to cases like ZTE NBN’s organized crime, this age-old vicious cycle and cancerous systemic culture of corruption and non-stop cynical lies will then continue to dominate our politics!

We must demand swift justice and harsh punishments for all the masterminds, not just the underlings or minions behind such organized crime and Mafia-like corruption cases.

More than a circus or musical chairs game of changing personalities in politics, whether vigorously kicking them out of office or perennially electing new faces with eloquent new anti-corruption promises, we must decisively and pragmatically institute structural reforms. All sectors of society must consistently uphold the truth, high standards of leadership by example, and moral ascendancy, which is of paramount importance.

Leadership is not only about economic growth without morals, not about gross national product statistics without social justice or feudal dole-outs of social services and bags of rice to buy political allegiance without any shred of social conscience.

Leadership is building a national consensus and a moral foundation for the people; it is about encouraging all citizens to trust in each other, it is about encouraging civic pride, a sense of duty, and selflessness. It is ultimately about inspiring hope.

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Comments or suggestions welcome at willsoonflourish@gmail.com or wilson_lee_flores@yahoo.com.