He wasn’t getting himself enmeshed in Philippine politics, even with the head of the united opposition as his principal host. Former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani was just basing his statements on what he has seen in his own country and in other places that he has visited, and on what he has learned over many years as a public official. Corruption, Giuliani told his audience in Makati the other day, drives away business.
“No one wants to do business in a place with a great deal of corruption,” Giuliani said in response to a question from the audience, near the end of a day-long session on “leadership in times of crisis.” Businesses “are going to be more comfortable” going to a country with no corruption, he added. A related question must have puzzled him. His response: “Very simple. What do we do with corrupt officials? We put them in jail.”
Unfortunately for Filipinos, things are not as simple in this country. Giuliani’s detractors escalated their attacks on his leadership style and personal affairs last year as soon as he made it clear that he was interested in the US presidency. But there were no insinuations of corruption against him, and he was giving honest advice to Filipinos who are aware that corruption is bad for business but are frustrated over the failure of the nation to punish the corrupt.
Giuliani is not the first, and he won’t be the last, to tell this country about the wages of corruption. Numerous studies have shown that the country has lost billions – both in actual funds and economic opportunities – to corruption in the past decades. Yet the fight against corruption has netted only the small fry, with the conviction rate being used by the government as a basis for claiming progress in the battle and seeking foreign aid.
Meanwhile, the big fish can bend the judiciary to its will and can get away with corrupt deals. One big fish was convicted but quickly pardoned in the name of political expediency, and did not spend a single moment in prison. This failure of the criminal justice system guarantees that corruption isn’t going away soon enough to make the country a more attractive place for investments.