Raval12

Name of Column: Zapros
By: Prof. Demaree J.B. Raval
Title of Article: Shame them (1)
No. of Words/Characters: 509/2991
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That’s what Transparency International did to the Philippines when it rated the country with a 2.4 on a scale of 1-10 and placed it 139th among 180 countries in its Corruption Perception Index. Of course, the ratings are not fair - those shameful figures do not reflect our own integrity as a people, but only applies to the crooks in the Government.
For a while, we thought the Government was doing something about it when it announced that it had upped the ante against crooks through a lifestyle check that exposes public officials having properties manifestly out of proportion to their legitimate income. But it was all a show. Worse, the Government even besmirched the character of well-meaning whistleblowers, all the while blaming media for the perception that corruption has reached gargantuan proportions.
Let us continue expressing our disgust: Shame them. With the public prying into their lives, these purveyors of corruption can be stopped dead on their tracks.
Heap shame, then, on that clerk at the customs zone, who could not explain how she was able to build her multi-million house. Now she is nowhere to be found, probably now in some place to live out the rest of her life in secret, to avoid being scorned by her honest colleagues.
Put to shame, too, that official who extracted a hefty bukol to facilitate the purchase of faulty vessels now rusting in peace in some obscure port. He resigned in tearful indignity, unable to bear the daily bashing he was getting.
And, that bureau chief who, through gifts from public works contractors, was able to maintain a Swiss bank account, with his wife and sons driving around in their respective SUVs and taking regular trips abroad. The shame of exposure drove him to end it all, with a photo of his landing in the front pages, showing his tongue in the grotesque rictus of death, his feet a foot or two above the floor.
A shame campaign is itself the punishment for corruption. It is not some process that has to go through the stages of proving the guilt or innocence of, say, the giver and the taker of a bribe caught in flagrante. The verdict is instantaneous: Both parties know that they are guilty.
For a shame campaign to be waged successfully it must be implemented with impartiality. Where the thrust is merely on the pedestrian instances of corruption, we would only be encouraging those involved in grand corruption to operate with impunity. But, then again, the deterrent effect is always there, whatever else one may say about the selectivity.
When honor and personal integrity are held as the noblest virtues, a miscreant would rather commit an act of self-destruction than live a life of ostracism. Shaming tugs at the conscience and pricks it; it riles the feelings and makes one feel totally despicable. In a shame culture, a person who breaks the law would wish to sink into the ground and disappear forever, to hide from those who have borne witness to his embarrassment and disgrace.
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Prof. Raval is a trustee of Transparency International, and Exective Director of the South East Parliamentarians Against Corruption. He teaches at the New Era College of Law.