Graft and Corruption

NOTES ON GRAFT AND CORRUPTION IN THE PHILIPPINES

By : LIWAYWAY S. VILORIA

1. The bureaucratic-legal norms that are supposed to govern any bureaucrat are regarded as the idealized extreme of societal rules of behavior. But these norms lie at a great distance from the Filipino norm of personalism which is the most dominant symbolic feature of Filipino social behavior. For instance, while bureaucracy requires universalistic and collectivity- oriented decisions, Filipino culture begs for particularism and self-orientation. Thus, numerous administrators regard parochial considerations primary, and use their discretion in order to advance their group interest rather than the national goal. (Carino, 1879).

2. Briones (1979) studied how corruption occurs at BIR, a revenue-raising agency. Findings indicate that corruption was tolerated by the prevailing administrative culture of BIR despite legal and administrative sanctions that prohibit negative bureaucratic behavior. Corruption was classified into internal corruption and external corruption. Internal corruption is one which is done without direct collusion with the client. External corruption is one in which the bureaucrat colludes and bargains with the client at the boundary exchange level. Internal corruption (or graft) takes place in various forms, such as: a) falsification and manipulation of financial documents and records; b) selling and bidding for choice positions; c) delaying of remittances, and d) accepting bribes for agents with cases.

External corruption occurs in these forms: a) lagay, means shelling out money or gifts to facilitate official transactions; b) giving of legal advice on how to reduce reported income and increase expenditures legally; c) manipulation of records of income tax returns and arreglo - making arrangements and accommodations for a fee, in cases of tax deficiencies....