ENQUIRY
DEMAREE J.B. RAVAL
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Indeed, a decent man
Sunday, 01 11, 2009
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Marine Maj. Ferdinand Marcelino has evidently left his mark in the brouhaha over the Alabang Boys. His refusal to bite the pizza or chicken costing at least three million pesos is one sure sign that there is still decency in our bureaucracy.
Decency, like corruption, is infectious. Having said that, I can almost entertain a vague longing that the entire corps of operatives of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA ) will be infected — if they already are not — by the rare virus called decency, which our society sorely needs.
For all it is worth, that video clip of the ramshackle house where Marcelino grew up, and the sad story of his being unable to extend financial help to his sick sister despite his “lucrative” posting at the PDEA, should jolt everyone to realize that Marcelino and the likes of him deserve our praise and moral support.
Marcelino resisted the easy money, and sometime, somehow he will get his just reward, the least of which is a clear conscience. Unlike some people in the government that we have known, who have made their conscience their accomplice in crime, Marcelino allowed that small, inner voice to guide him to do the decent thing.
I will not comment on those who offered the bribe, beyond saying that I do hope the long arm of the law is indeed long enough to catch up with them in their gated enclaves at Ayala-Alabang.
The United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) minces no words in defining bribery. Thus: (a) The promise, offering or giving, directly or indirectly, of an undue advantage to any person who directs or works, in any capacity, for the person himself or for another person, in order that he, in breach of his duties, act or refrain from acting; and (b) The solicitation or acceptance, directly or indirectly, of an undue advantage by any person who directs or works, in any capacity, for the person himself or for another person, in order that he, in breach of his duties, act or refrain from acting.
In certain countries where the “small gift,” the lagniappe, the mordida, and the baksheesh are considered part of the “normal, civilized way of conducting transactions,” there will always be the extended palm, ready to receive the token of a generosity that conveniently masks off an insidious venality. The suborner and the suborned have not embarrassed each other, and this shared guilt becomes a self-enforcing bond that seals subsequent deals.
The bribe givers in our society are emboldened only by the weakness of the person who would willingly accept the inducement. That weakness can be remedied only by a firm resolve on the part of the Marcelinos that are still with us to do the right thing. The climate under which the right thing could be done, that is, to reject the offer, can be created only by the person who is the object of the offer. This decision rests only between himself and his conscience.
Bribes are useless and ineffective if there are no takers. However conducive a culture could get that it breeds an atmosphere of extortion and bribery, all that a self-respecting man has to do is to say no. His honesty and sense of decency are his shields.
Those who offered the bribe could very well be unforgiving aggressors who are intent on breaking down the defenses of Marcelino’s sense of decency and honesty. Their over-riding goal is to get those boys out of the slammer, never mind if in the process they have to convince themselves that a little palm-greasing here never hurt anybody. After all, three million is just a piddling sum when ranged against a monthly take of 100 million from those places where “social users” give vent to their desire for ecstasy and high energy. A sense of family, they say, goaded the bribe offerors. Well, they can tell that to the marines. I say, it is profit that is the all-consuming desire of these offerors, and all scruples be damned! The sooner the Alabang Boys are out to the Fort, the sooner they can push their glassine envelopes into the hands of those who yearn for high energy and sudden ecstasy.
Corruption thrives only where there is an atmosphere of decadence and turpitude. Thankfully, Marcelino and his group of operatives at the PDEA are made of sterner stuff.
Bribe giving is both a weakness and a strength of those who cannot stand on their own. Its twin evil, extortion, on the other hand, is the easy but unconscionable conduct of those who are uneasy with the realization that which they have is all that they will ever need. The bribe giver preys on the vulnerability of the extortionist, and the extortionist takes advantage of the desperate need of the bribe giver to control results. In a moral and upright climate, however, one is useless without the other.
The UNCAC and local anti-corruption laws are not enough to deter the bribe givers and the bribe takers, who will always find a way to get around the penalties that await them. If we must succeed in eradicating corruption, we need to summon all the strength of our will to resist the temptation, to muster the courage to expose it. We need to cloak ourselves with the firm determination to put the bribe giver at the mercy of the law that he deigned to scoff at. Marcelino has shown us that it can be done.
Marcelino, deserving of a medal of honor, together with a Senate commendation, for his honesty, is teaching us to be able to say to ourselves: “I do not want anyone to induce me to commit a wrong. Decency is all I need.”
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