WEEK 9

(image from: http://www.taclobanhotels.com/CORRUPTION-IN-THE-PHILIPPINES.htm)

       For this week, we had our second quiz which was The Case of the Sole Remaining Supplier. We had to make a decision based on the given situation and other factors. The situation was our company was the last remaining supplier for the transistor for Pacemaker company. The other companies backed out in supplying the transistor because of the incidents that happened to the patients. However, Pacemaker company told us that if we don't sell the product, they'll go out of business. Also, without the pacemaker, people don't even have a chance. The decision is up to the company and we need to make a decision if we will supply the transistors or not.

      The quiz was similar with what we did with the Parable of the Sadhu, the group followed the same process wherein we determined the facts, identified the issues involved, identified the stakeholders and considered the situation in their point of view, considered the available alternatives, evaluated the options, and made a decision. We determined the things needed and came up with the decision to continue supplying the transistors to the pacemaker company with a higher price so that we could help the patients and earn more.

       For the second meeting for the week, we discussed about corruption which is a very relevant topic or issue today. As defined, Corruption is the lack of integrity or honesty. Another definition would be: Abuse of public power for private gain. An example that miss told us would be: when a parent offers to donate a playground worth 10,000 pesos because his son was not able to make it to a school,  he/she talks to the president of the school and makes this offer. Maybe the president would say that yes, and will consider his/her child to have a slot in that school.

       I think that there are many people that use this kind of strategy to get the things they need and want. Most of the people also agree to do and approve these strategies because they are given something in return. I think that it would be better if everyone will be fair and think of the welfare of other people. It's a nice thing to know that you have accomplished your goals by doing things the right way. People would be happy to know about your achievements especially when you did your part.

       I also learned that there are many forms of corruption, and in our country we witness this. It could start from small things such as bribing a traffic officer when caught on the road. People would just talk or communicate and make excuses so that the officers would not give them a ticket that would cost them a lot of money and time.  It could be through overpricing some items or products that would be used in a government project such as materials for repairing the road, etc.  

      There are a lot of consequences of corruption just like other things. As stated, Corruption is anti-democratic which is against the beliefs of the people in the Philippines since we are a democratic country. We would usually see this especially after voting or electing government officials. People would believe in the qualities of these leaders not knowing that they will not keep the promises they said during their  campaign. There is also a possibility of corruption leading to revolt and the outright destruction of democracy. An example of this would be parking lot of the senate.

      There are different causes of corruption such as lack of transparency and free flows of information, lack of free press, lack of government accountability, inability of civil society or NGO's to monitor the government, weak rule of law, incentives, unclear rules of behaviour for government officials, and "old boy networks." There are many causes of corruption and it can be found in politics, law enforcement, and businesses. An example would be low salary of employees, it may be because of the lack of budget for the family especially for the education of their children. The practice of corruption violates human rights, causes prices to rise, and affects human health and welfare around the world.

       Transparency International published the Corruption Perception Index, which is an annual ranking of countries by their perceived level of corruption as determined by expert assessments and opinion surveys. The CPI ranks 176 countries on a scale of 100 which means very clean to 0 which means highly corrupt. I think that CPI is an important survey because we would have an idea about the situation of corruption in the country. We can see that there is Transparency: Improving the ranking. As of 2013, the Philippines ranks 94 and is given a score of 36. Compared to 2011 wherein we ranked 129 and got a score of 2.6.

      We also watched a video about corruption and I think that it is interesting to know more about this issue. In our country, we are very familiar with corruption because some people are involved especially government officials, businessmen, etc. I think that we need to be aware about the things that happen around us. Many people are involved even if just one person started it, an example would be when we pay taxes and government officials use it for their personal pleasure. I believe that the people or the citizens have the right to speak and investigate on these corruption cases because we they are using the money that was supposed to be allotted for projects and the people.  

     Some suggested solutions were clear rules on what is admissible behavior, rule of law/law enforcement, eliminate incentives/ proper wages, employee training and competence, free press and democratic accountability. We should try to use or follow the proposed solutions so that the country would improve and progress. Through these solutions and discipline we would be a better country in the future.