Korupsyon

From Grease Money to Government Pork: Corruption Is a Ladder - And Everyone’s Climbing It

Nagsimula ito sa maliit.

Isang “Sir, baka naman may pang-merienda,” isang “Ma’am, para mabilis ma-approve.”

When I started my construction company back in 2018, akala ko ang laban ay tungkol lang sa sipag, diskarte, at kalidad.

Pero mali ako. 

The real battlefield wasn’t in the bidding halls or project sites - it was in the silent exchanges under the table.

Private sector pa lang ’yun. 

Engineers and procurement officers asking for “facilitation fees.” 

Tiny bribes, tiny sins - pero sa totoo lang, ito rin ang micro-version ng corruption na umaabot hanggang Malacañang at Congress.

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📍 The Micro and the Macro

Ang pinagkaiba lang ng corruption sa private at sa gobyerno ay scale.

Sa amin noon, isang engineer lang ang humihingi ng ₱20,000 para ma-approve ang quotation.

Sa gobyerno?

Isang undersecretary ang humihingi ng ₱20 million “commission” para ma-release ang project allocation.

Parehong “processing fee.”

Magkaibang decimal point.

That’s the irony - what I saw in boardrooms is the same virus that thrives in the bureaucracy. 

The same language, same justification, same shrug: “Ganyan talaga sistema.”

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📍 From Shell to DPWH

When I dealt with big corporations like Shell and Rebisco, I saw the same gray zones that government contractors navigate.

In the private sector, it’s “grease money.”

In the public sector, it’s “SOP.”

In both, it’s extortion disguised as “facilitation.”

And the Discayas, the Co’s , the flood-control barons - they just learned to play the same dirty game on a grander stage.

I was playing barangay basketball while they were in the PBA Finals of Corruption.

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📍 The Culture of Compromise

Sa umpisa, akala mo isolated cases lang. 

Pero habang tumatagal, you realize corruption isn’t a glitch in the system - it is the system.

Every engineer who accepts a bribe becomes a seed.

Every official who signs a padded contract becomes the tree.

Every voter who says “lahat naman sila corrupt” becomes the fertilizer.

The forest we’re living in now - full of pork, ghost projects, and dirty deals - grew from those seeds.

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🔴 Why I Closed My Company

I closed my company not because I failed in business, but because I refused to succeed by cheating.

Kasi kapag ang “honest contractor” na lang ang mukhang tanga,

kapag ang “by-the-book” ay parang insulto,

kapag ang “integrity” ay nagmumukhang liability - 

then something is deeply wrong with how we define progress.

What I experienced on a small scale, the Discayas are now magnifying a thousandfold - with flood-control funds instead of construction bids, with senators instead of engineers. 

Pareho lang ang logic: Who you know, not what you build.

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🟥 Corruption Is Not a Crime of the Few - It’s a Culture of the Many

Ang masakit na katotohanan?

The Philippines doesn’t just have corrupt leaders - it has a corruption ecosystem.

It’s in the clerk who delays papers for “coffee money.”

It’s in the contractor who inflates bids kasi “may hatian.”

It’s in the public that tolerates it kasi “wala namang malinis.”

I walked away from my company because I couldn’t breathe in that ecosystem anymore.

But walking away doesn’t cleanse me of it - it only made me see how deep the rot goes.

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If corruption on the small scale is the heartbeat of everyday business,

then corruption in government is the thunder that echoes that same rhythm - 

louder, deadlier, and proudly televised.

And until we stop glorifying those who “know how to play the game,”

we’ll never build a nation that’s truly ours - 

only one that’s constantly under construction,

funded by lies, and collapsing under its own greed.

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#MicroToMacroCorruption #SystemNotSymptom 

#BuildWithoutBribes 

#GreaseMoneyNation

#CorruptionNation

#TindigPilipino 

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