The Tainted Reputation of the Philippine Senate vs the Filing of the Enrile, Bong and Jinggoy Plunder Case

The Tainted Reputation of the Philippine Senate

The tainted reputation of the Philippine Senate is so serious an issue as to require a major political surgery. The filing of the appropriate and non-bailable plunder case against Senators Juan Ponce Enrile, Jinggoy Estrada, and Ramon “Bong” Revilla, Jr., although a good sign of relief on the part of the Filipino people, is not enough remedy to assuage the insult and abuse that our masses have felt with the uncovering of the Napoles pork-barrel scam. We are poor--our government is poor. And corruption in government is the main cause of it all. For even our highest lawmakers have themselves turned into law-breakers. They have become so corrupt that they couldn’t feel any qualm of conscience at all. Instead, they are telling the country of their planned candidacy for the coming elections. Adding insult to injury, they are even so confident that they can deceive the Filipino electorates—once more!

This case of plunder filed against Senators Enrile, Bong Revilla, and Jinggoy Estrada is unprecedented in the history of the Philippine Senate. And it is just the tip of the iceberg. If proven in court, the Philippine government can be likened to a human body having cancer and other serious infections right in the head--in the brain.

Thus, the tainted reputation of the Philippine Senate is so serious that it requires some form of cleansing or political surgery if you may. It is indeed good news that some of our Senators are proposing a form of disciplinary action like expulsion from office of erring comrades. The Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, chaired by Senator Teofisto Guingona III, had also recommended the filing of plunder charges against Enrile, Bong and Jinggoy. But it is not enough. There must be a law that will bar a plunder-convicted politician from seeking a political office. The case of ex-President and now Mayor Erap Estrada who was convicted with plunder is a vivid portrayal on how our law on plunder can become toothless versus the mandate of our non-issues-oriented and less-schooled majority.

The law on plunder was one of the best laws ever conceived and written by our leaders. What we need in this country is more brave leaders like Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales and a President like Noynoy Aquino who have deep respect for the law.

The best remedy in order to right the tainted reputation of the Philippine Senate is the Senate itself, the political will of our government to guard our people’s money and to jail corrupt politicians, and most importantly, we the Filipinos during election day.

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The Strength and Weakness of Filipino Culture and Tradition

The Strength and Weaknesses of Filipino Culture and Tradition

Like all other nations on earth, our culture or way of life as a people has both strength and weaknesses. Culture, says the dictrionary is "the arts and other manifestations of human intellectual achievement regarded collectively...The tastes in art and manners that are favoured by a social group...All the knowledge and values shared by a society."

Tradition on the other hand, is "the transmission of customs or beliefs from generation to generation, or the fact of being passed on in this way." Culture and tradition thus is a way of life, the practices of our people during a burial rite, a wedding ceremony or the way we view and see things in life.

The Chinese people are governed by Feng Shui in their construction of buildings, for example, or in starting a business. It is a "Chinese philosophical system of harmonizing the human existence with the surrounding environment. The term feng shui literally translates as "wind-water" in English."

Our counterpart to Feng Shui in the Philippines is the belief in the involvement of the spirits of our ancestors in our daily life. All these practices and belief system are handed down to us by culture and tradition, which is the transmitted knowledge, customs, belief and values from generation to generation.

The Strength of Filipino Culture

Why is it that there are many retired foreigners, particularly Americans, who want to live and die in the Philippines? It is because we value close family ties. Call it as emotionalism or sentimentalism, but we simply love to see our children and grand children, even our in-laws, to live harmoniously with us under the same roof as much as possible--finances permitting, so to say.

The Americans on the other hand, believe in rugged individualism such as independence at age 18, or even divorce between couples. The result is that their elderly and grand parents found themselves without a family to call their own at the end of their life journey. We are not like them. That's why many of them came over to our shores, for they appreciate our culture of safeguarding and giving great value on our close family relationship.

We have other practices that are worth emulating. But space limits us to mention them all here.

The Weaknesses of Filipino Culture

The weaknesses of Filipino culture seem to out weigh its strength. For example, our culture of corruption in this country can be traceable back to our close family ties and sense of dependence on our elderly. As such, we have a sense of dependence on our political leaders and boss--our political "father," so to say.

Our nation's Catholic religion is also a factor or cause why do we trust more on connections and bribery, the main elements in all forms of corrupt practices. For example, we want some connections with our patron-Saints such as San Isidro Labrador or San Lorenzo Ruiz. We want a connection to Mother Mary, for her to somehow "influence" Christ.

The strength and weaknesses of our culture and tradition cannot be contained in just a book or two, so much that we seem to embrace also the culture, both the negative and the positives ones, of other nations.

Conclusion

In sum, I should say that it takes dozens of years yet to inculcate effectively into the minds of our people what is good and what is not to our country and nation. The recent pork barrel scam in the Philippines and the involvement of our brilliant leaders, including some highly respected media men who are enjoying national prominence, is one proof that great knowledge alone from great schools of learning is not enough to make a great Filipino leader corruption-proof.

I like this quote from Theodore Roosevelt. It's good for all our corrupt Senators and Congressmen: “When they call the roll in the Senate, the Senators do not know whether to answer 'Present' or 'Not Guilty'.”

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