To define corruption as a situation where a few enrich themselves at the expense of the many is an understatement. Graft and corruption do not only make the few richer by taking away the benefits due to the poor majority. It also ruins the integrity of our humanity - both on the side of the grafters and those who are victimized by it. Since it defies justice, conceals the truth, and upholds dishonesty and greed, it seriously desecrates our humanity and our role as co-creators of God.
Corruption is a betrayal of public trust. When a person is elected as, for instance, director of an electric cooperative, voters bestow their trust on the official that the latter will uphold the interest of the former in all the undertakings of the cooperative. The consumers grant the director the moral authority to run the cooperative with utmost responsibility. An elected official primarily serves the members over and above personal interest. Doing otherwise disrobes the officer of the moral authority to remain in one’s position. The official does not deserve such designation from the very beginning.
Corruption is a blind submission to the temptations of the evil elements of society, aimed to hit into the shallowness of a human being. Society adores and reveres rich people and their wealth. We are awed by new and expensive cars, big and well-furnished mansions, jewelry, or the latest gadgets of information technology. To meet society’s expectations, some people resort to acquiring these material things in any way they can. For instance, some use their access to cooperative funds or falsify documents in order to obtain extra cash to pay for their houses, cars, pieces of appliance, delicious food, or even other perks such as free gasoline for personal travels, free use of vehicles for private business, free salaries for private drivers or assistants, or all-expense-paid trips. All these satisfy the grafter’s craving for self-indulgence and self-satisfaction, even if very clearly, such will mean additional burden to the poor member-consumers.
Like a metastatic cancer, corruption destroys from the inside then infects and rapidly spreads to others (Ehem! Manual for Combatting Corruption, 2005). Graft and corruption have been silently accepted in our culture especially if they are packaged to satisfy the human being’s pursuit for self-satisfaction. It becomes effortless to convince others to join in and keep quiet. Some will be told they will certainly receive a share from the gains of the corrupt acts. Later on, people can openly talk about such acts as if these were unquestionably fair for the member-consumers. For instance, cooperative officers can just normally discuss in an en banc board meeting the disbursement of an amount that will be distributed to the directors and department heads, as if the issue is something definitely moral and legal. Then officials receive their share of the amount, and spend it like it was justly-deserved, hard-earned money.
Corruption is a perversion. It distorts the norms of duty and responsibility entrusted to an official. It destroys the integrity of both the person and the position. The position is abused and misused. The discharge of duties is tainted with personal interest, bribery, unfair accommodations, and favors. The corrupt official may be living in a comfortable home, driving luxury cars, bringing one’s children to big universities, wearing precious jewelry and signature clothing, eating expensive foods - most of which were gained from one’s abuse of position. But what about one’s soul and humanity?
When cooperative officials submit themselves to the whims of powerful politicians in exchange to an unchallenged grip on their positions, or when they approve the purchase of substandard and overpriced transformers or meters in exchange for huge cuts and commissions from suppliers, these officials are no different from dogs who are fed with chicken bones to blindly obey the masters.
They allow themselves literally to be bought like prostitutes. They are even worse than prostitutes; because they sell not only their flesh but their soul and the essence of their being. We, humans, have the capacity to transcend the temptations of the body: to discover the wealth of our humanity and reach into the depths of our being, by not being eternally consumed by the cravings of the flesh.
Corruption is an act of selling one’s soul and integrity to the devil. The corrupt person has lost one’s humanity - someone who ceased to be different from an animal; someone whose major goal in life is to take advantage of others; someone who banks on the ignorance and apathy of member-consumers; someone who curtails freedom of expression and blocks the search for truth; someone who, knowingly or unknowingly, has decided to follow the path of the devil.
The society, nonetheless, continues to adore and praise the grafter for one’s wealth and power, even to the extent of re-electing the same. But that is exactly how the devil works and succeeds, is it not?
In the process, the corrupt official loses one’s face, so to speak - not only to oneself and to others, but to God.