It is my singular honor to be with you, the anchors of our nation’s industries and institutions. I thank the Management Association of the Philippines for giving me the privilege to exchange ideas with such distinguished professionals.
Your theme – “MAPping the Culture of Integrity” – comes at a fortuitous time. In a few days, we mark a year since our people voted to pursue the Righteous Path. From day one, President Benigno Aquino III has vowed to stamp out corruption and lead the country toward a righteous path. The President and the rest of government have pledged to pour blood, sweat and tears to pave this road to justification. In laboring to achieve this vision, our bond with the people can only be met within a culture of integrity. This is why your theme struck me as profoundly relevant and perhaps, you will indulge a humble public servant’s insights on the topic.
Integrity is most immediately seen as our unity of life. What we teach or say must be matched by what we do. For our peers, our subordinates, our clients and superiors, this is the hardest and most basic currency we can exchange. Whether we talk of business plans, investment incentives or oaths of office, the people we answer to expect us to remain true to our word. And indeed, the world would come to a screeching halt if no one honors agreements.
But to confine integrity solely to the fulfillment promises and agreements may be a bit limiting. Integrity is rooted in Truth. Without basing our decisions on the truths about ourselves, about man, it is nothing more than a shallow display of pride. As professionals who steer industry’s course, you are intimately aware that your decisions and ours affect men and their futures. In all that we deliberate, our goal must be to bring our people closer to what is best for each and every one. As such, the common good is a necessary goal of a culture of integrity.
The fight against poverty and corruption is one of your government’s commitments to this goal. These plagues still pose the greatest barrier to every Filipino’s ability to become all that they can be. I am intimately familiar with the hurdles that poverty brings and while hard work and God’s grace pulled me and countless others out of the mire, it is the duty of government, as well as those citizens who are blessed with more in life, to aid in tearing this wall down.
As we fight poverty, corruption becomes a necessary target of our efforts. Corruption, whether in government or in private organizations, is the unkindest theft we can suffer since it robs the poor and the needy before anyone else. It denies our children access to a decent education, eroding the foundations of their future. It steals our elders’ access to health and medical care, which they sorely need as pains and ailments accompany their twilight years. It diminishes the relief provided to those devastated by calamity. It further empties the plates of those who already starve, but still pay their taxes to fund social services that they hope to benefit from.
To sever the head of this demon, much is required. We need structural reforms in the bureaucracy and its processes. We need personal reforms within each government executive or employee. But above all else, we need changes in the ordinary citizen.
Frugality is one reform we can undertake. It is noble to want a better life for ourselves and our children and we should work hard to gain what we need to make our lives better. But as we have learned from our parents and their parents, it is possible to exercise restraint in preparation for the future, to live simply and be more dignified for it.
While corruption may initially be fueled by need, it is perpetuated by want. Every day, we are bombarded with images that influence our image of progress. Whether in television, the internet or in print, a subliminal message of consumerism seeps into our souls and fuels our aspirations. These offerings show the height of human creativity in the retail and advertising trades, but they have also defined stereotypes of success: a German car, a Swiss watch, a house in a gated community and maybe a summer getaway by the sea.
There is nothing wrong with wanting these things, but we sit on a precarious perch if we end up wanting these things at all costs. It sets the stage for cutting corners in our principles just so we can brandish a perceived badge of stature. It starts to numb our sensitivities, convincing us that it is acceptable to take what is not ours, just so that we can live a lifestyle in place of a life.
Our dignity and value lie far beyond what we own. It is who we are and what we stand for.
On the day I was to take oath as your Vice President, I made my way to the inauguration in an e-Jeepney, accompanied by Boy Scouts, senior citizens and other representatives of the constituency that elected me to this august office. On that momentous day, I decided to deviate from the traditional finery of ceremony to show our people that a simple life does not mean a lack of achievement. Frugality does not detract from the office we hold, or the authority we wield. This is the weight I assign to this virtue as I believe it is one key to removing the shackles of corruption.
Our tolerance is another area we can address. Over time, many of us have succumbed to fatigue against corruption’s onslaught. Typically, they shrug their shoulders and throw their hands in the air after decades of struggle, thinking that we shall never extinguish this fire. But if this is indeed a social cancer, then we are in a position to prevail over it if we refuse to let it take root in our personal lives.
Let us increase our sensitivity. In our places of work, let us take transparency and good governance from policy to reality. As well, let us be proactive in fighting corruption whenever it faces us in our dealings with other people or offices. Take heart in the President’s pledge to eliminate this threat. Be confident in seeking help from your government. The vigorous prosecution of those who embezzle the people’s money reflects our zeal. The Department of Justice, Congress, and the Bureau of Internal Revenue are just some of the institutions that are actively and visibly pursuing those who engage in corrupt practices.
Likewise, the doors of my office are open to all in need of help. As Vice President, I am one with President Aquino in bringing to justice those who choose to stray from the righteous path. In the areas I have been asked to steward, the fight against corruption stands as a top priority in maximizing our anti-poverty measures. And we have been relentless in this pursuit.
In the housing sector, I chair the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC). In my first week as chairman, I met with the officials and employees of the nine key shelter agencies to find out their issues and concerns. At the outset, I emphasized my policy of zero tolerance for corruption. To make our programs transparent, my office and the shelter agencies encouraged all other stakeholders in the housing sector to participate in our discussions. We conducted consultations with housing beneficiaries, non-government organizations, local government units and property developers. This was important for us not only to get a wide view of the issues in the housing sector and obtain feedback on the performance of the shelter agencies, but also to receive reports of irregular activities and transactions.
Last year, we filed our first case against an errant property developer. Investigations showed that realty firm Globe Asiatique deceived the Home Mutual Development Fund or Pag-IBIG into releasing about P6.6 billion worth of housing loans. Clarificatory hearings at the Department of Justice revealed that Globe Asiatique used a “modified Ponzi scam” to finance its projects in Pampanga.
It was further found that Globe Asiatique was involved in double sales. Buyers of the housing units discovered that the houses they paid for or are paying for, are already registered under the names of fake borrowers that the property developer recruited.
I directed Pag-IBIG and the National Bureau of Investigation to look into this anomaly, concluding with the filing of charges of syndicated estafa constituting economic sabotage, against Globe Asiatique as well as a lawyer of Pag-IBIG. We expect that this modest start will encourage more victims to come out and file their complaints.
Meanwhile, as Presidential Adviser on Overseas Filipino Workers’ (OFW) concerns, the rights and welfare of our migrant workers remain our primary concern. The heroism and remittances of the millions of Global Filipinos keep our economy afloat despite crises that have brought other nations to their knees. It is only just that we ensure the safety and welfare of our unsung heroes and their families.
In this realm, within just nine months of the Aquino administration, our synergies resulted in the conviction of 21 human traffickers, significant progress compared to the total of 27 convictions in the past seven years. We also filed charges against immigration officials and personnel allegedly involved in human trafficking related activities, and our people continue their vigilant watch over this front. We want to send the clearest message that we are serious in our mission to bring trafficking to an end.
You will be pleased to note that we are not alone in this fight. The Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking, of which I am a member, is firmly committed to its efforts to stop this menace. Just recently, the US State Department recognized the significant progress of the Philippine government in combating trafficking in persons. With the help of all attached agencies and a proactive citizenry, we hope to further improve our standing in the coming year.
These milestones are those of the government you elected, but your role as professionals is no less significant. It is here that the MAP can chart the country’s future.
You hold influence over so many people, and it is you they interact with more than any government official, on a daily basis. It is your decisions that affect them most directly. You are more than just employers or bosses. You are educators in that you form each person you work with. The culture you establish in the workplace plots the course of every person in your firms. On this seedbed, the proper values and virtue can be planted and cultivated if you so choose. If we are remiss in this duty, then the weight that bears down on us today will swell to epic proportions in a decade or two.
Over the past month, I was blessed to join hundreds of students as they marked the end of their university years, and looked forward to the start of their lives as professionals. I was set on fire by their idealism and their excitement to venture into the unknown to carve their own careers. I expressed hope that these young ones have the thread needed to mend our nation’s fiber. Many of them will end up working for you. They will look to you not just to gain technical expertise but also to come closer to their total development. Their integrity will be bolstered or undermined, depending on the guidance they receive from you. Use this influence wisely in building the culture that you proclaim today, and we can be confident that corruption will come within a breath of extinction in a few generations.
This is your challenge. This is your mission.
All worthwhile endeavors are characterized by difficulty and challenges. The road to the righteous path is no different. There will be setbacks but our resolve, if firm, is accompanied by resilience. We will learn from every hurdle and grow wiser with each bump along the way. Working together, we shall get up faster than we stumble and we shall attack the problem with renewed vigor.
In facing this daunting adversary, let us find inspiration in one of our lifetime’s greatest figures. The Servant of God John Paul II will be beatified in Rome this Sunday. John Paul II’s papacy came at a time when Communism stifled the rights and dignity of many people across the world. While others wondered how this era of darkness could end, John Paul II undertook the seemingly impossible mission of bringing the Cold War to a peaceful close. What others viewed as impossible, he took on with courage, beginning with a visit to his home country, Poland, in 1979. He marched into the belly of the beast to share his message and inspire with his example.
His efforts culminated in the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Soon after, the Iron Curtain collapsed. Within a decade of becoming pope, his quiet labors achieved what warheads and tanks could not conquer. He had no divisions or battalions to field, but his message of virtue was matched by his untiring resolve, and his unity of life and blessed with God’s grace.
John Paul the Great loved our country so much that he visited our shores twice during his papacy. I am certain that he will intercede for us and give wings to our efforts as we work to tear down the walls that poverty and corruption have erected around us.
Mabuhay ang Management Association of the Philippines!
Mabuhay tayong lahat