but seriously i think corruption can only be stopped by making the system as fool-proof as possible. use of new technology comes to mind. i also came up with a rather unusual idea which i have since pitched to a lawyer/blogger but it’s not being picked up. here’s the link.

Corruption remains the norm because it tends to go unpunished and perpetuated by the common expression “Hayaan mo na; ganyan talaga.” I’ve always hated that expression, btw. So this has its similarities with “Pwede na ‘yan,” that smidgen of the Pinoy psyche that poisons everything else. We’ve set our standards so low we even pray thanks at church every Sunday for our current situation, because it could have been much worse. If these continue to be the norm, we’ll never get anywhere.

So the big question is: How do you change the norm?

the key here is time i guess. it’s also interesting to see how singapore’s lee kwan yew did it. i’m not sure but i vaguely remember reading somewhere that lee kwan yew basically accepted that the older generations can no longer be changed so instead of wasting his time on them he focused on the younger generations.

so in the case fernando’s projects it may still be too early to say whether his attempts at behavioral modification failed or succeeded. it takes time. i’ll refer to the “no smoking” example we talked about earlier. smoking inside jeepneys used to be commonplace. but sometime in the early 90 a law or policy against it was strictly implemented. fast forward to the present… while there are still those who smoke inside jeepneys and other puvs, most people nowadays frown on the practice.

but iwe’re a little off point. mr. esposo was talking about eradicating corruption.

i think his idea is for everyone to just take it upon themselves to change. you know it’s like that movie line “if you build it they will come.” in this case it’s like he’s saying “change your values first and corruption will just magically disappear.”

The thing is to decode the elements that went into it.

1) Educating and informing the people about rules to be followed within the former Naval Base.

2) Apprehending and punishing people who break the rules.

3) Making the rewards of following the rules visible.

But then, you basically have a small transient population in Subic. I’d wonder if such could be repeated in an densely populated urban area such as Metro Manila.

Bayani Fernando can make a claim of sorts of implementing behavioral modification as far as traffic is concerned. But look at the buses and jeeps, what behavioral change has happened? They are still as unruly as ever.

Teodoro made a good start but then went on to say that changing institutions would mean having to change the constitution and so said that if elected, he would pursue constitutional change.

Gordon for his part didn’t layout specific actions that would lead to a change of values. Perhaps, if Gordon did try to outline specific actions, he’d go on about the effect his slogans had on the people of Olongapo — aim high, etcetera. Or point out that he had led his people in Olongapo in sweeping the streets, apprehending criminals as well as litterbugs himself, and all that jazz. He’d also perhaps point at education as a factor.

If Senator Panfilo Lacson had actually attended the forum, perhaps he would have been the one to cite actions that he had taken as PNP Chief that had resulted in cops stopping from taking bribes, returning carnapped vehicles, kidnappers from plying their trade, and drug dealers from selling drugs. Everyone hailed this as proof of his effectiveness as a leader, but then again, after Erap’s fall things returned to normal in the PNP.