Thread by @sejoalzir

THE TWO FACES OF CORRUPTION

(a thread)

It's intellectual dishonesty if we deny the PPE in 2016 as overpriced, but it has to be contextualized. I will do that by examining high corruption or corruption above (Duterte's PPE) and low corruption or corruption below (Aquino's PPE).

If you ask government suppliers, they will tell you that it is expensive to procure in the Philippines. Perhaps some materials are imported. Another reason is that too many officials demand kickbacks, which force bidders to overprice their goods during the rigged bidding process.

In the corruption below, local suppliers have to curry favor with the people who handle bidding and release funds and those government officials whose jobs are to inspect for registration requirements and monitor business activities and facilities. Even cops demand their shares.

That also explains why there is a P20-million gym project that uses substandard materials and only builds a roof over concrete benches and a basketball court. Compare that to a private mansion with a covered basketball court for only P15 million and with no demand for a kickback.

The PPE procured in 2016 was overpriced as far as I am concerned, but the beneficiaries of the corruption scheme were the officials below. P14.5 million is too small an amount to involve even a governor or a cabinet secretary. That's low corruption for many small corrupt people.

The PPE procured in 2020 is a different story. It is the opposite of the corruption below or low corruption. It involved huge funds, cronies, nepotism and the invisible hand of the president and his men. The beneficiaries were not too many, and they were big government officials.

The corruption above or high corruption mostly involves foreign suppliers. In the Philippines, we usually see that in defense and health procurements. The president is always involved since cabinet secretaries are not only his/her puppets but also the officials he/she monitors.

One feature of the corruption above or high corruption is the involvement of the relatives or relations of the president. Remember the first gentleman? How about the rumored mistress known for influence peddling? Perhaps the funds involved are so huge that they want to have some.

This two-corruption paradigm alone should stop us from comparing and contrasting the PPE in 2016 and the PPE in 2020. P14.5 million versus P9.2 billion? Come on. The former did not involve Aquino's assistant, and the latter did involve Duterte's Chinese friends. Huge difference.

Both procurements were overpriced in relation to the local and the Chinese prices, but the case we should be focusing on is Duterte's PPE in 2020 because the money involved was huge, the people behind it were his own, and it happened during the pandemic--quite morally offensive.