EDITORIAL - Let’s examine our conscience

With the approaching Feast of the Epiphany, Filipino Catholics will soon end the traditional Christmastide celebrations. Classes and office work will resume. And so will the campaign against corruption.

As Christmas came and went, people saw a government that had overpromised and underdelivered. Even the avowed cleansing of the annual national budget produced only incremental improvements while entrenching patronage through “soft pork barrel” allocations in the form of politicized dole-outs, with lawmakers significantly padding the amounts proposed by the executive for the ayuda programs.

This new year, President Marcos will have to do more than try to shame the shameless in keeping their dirty hands off national coffers. He must show sincerity and resolve in his promise to put the “big fish” in the corruption scandal behind bars, at least before Christmas 2026.

The emerging magnitude of the problem shows that it cannot be tackled by the government alone. Citizen vigilance and expressions of outrage over the theft of public funds must be sustained in the coming months, to compel meaningful, systemic changes in government.

Equally important is a sea change in attitudes, in the way politicians and other public officials view their work.

A question frequently asked in this country is why corruption has become endemic in the bastion of the Roman Catholic faith in Asia. Is the piety all for show, or meant mainly to pray to hit the lotto jackpot?

Pope Leo XIV, in his final general audience for 2025 at the Vatican on Dec. 31, said that the spirit of thanksgiving at the end of the year also calls for truthfulness of heart. He urged the faithful “to examine our consciences honestly.”

While the pontiff was not referring to the corruption scandal in the Philippines, his message resonates in a nation reeling from the scale of the institutionalized thievery it seems at every level of government.

Applying Pope Leo’s message to the Philippine situation, Filipinos can tell crooks: “Ma-konsensiya naman kayo.”

If thieves can’t be shamed into changing their ways, perhaps they can be reminded of the threat of eternal damnation for those who steal. Perhaps they can be pricked by their conscience.