Corruption Starts at Home
This past year has seen the country through a maelstrom of political controversies, from Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment case to the downpour of corruption revelations concerning flood control projects. Now more than ever, the public eye is fixated on the issue of corruption, outraged by the reports of plundered public coffers flooding social media and the public consciousness. However, while we must ensure that corrupt politicians answer to the law, we must also turn our eyes inward and recognize that this corruption is the fruit of seeds we ourselves have sown and continue to sow.
When public officials brazenly transport billions of kickbacks in cash-packed suitcases to private penthouses, we are quick to call them out in fury. But we often fail to acknowledge or condemn corruption for what it truly is: a product of indiscipline and complacency. Every instance of vanishing paper trails and siphoned public funds reveals the glaring lack of values that should have been taught at home, instilled during one’s childhood, and exemplified throughout the rest of their life. History has demonstrated that corruption is more than a single thorn in our government; it has proven itself an invasive weed deeply entrenched in our political system. And when we see that it has become a pattern, tried and perfected over the decades, we know that it points to a deeper source—one bred at home.
The home is the fundamental unit of every society; it is the first environment where a child’s character is cultivated and nurtured. What, then, occurs when parents—a child’s first role models and teachers—demonstrate the wrong behaviors and values to them? What begins as seemingly “little things” ripples into massive consequences later on. Telling white lies, like understating one’s age for a free ride, rationalizes dishonesty for personal gain. Doing children’s homework for them encourages shortcut-taking. Keeping extra change promotes monetary gain at the expense of others. Handing a police officer some “lunch money” to avoid a ticket teaches children that bribery and evasion of accountability are not only acceptable but normal. These individual actions that parents may trivialize eventually grow into patterns reinforced and normalized in the minds of their children. Over time, these seemingly “harmless” decisions are imitated and institutionalized by their children who grow up to fill the shoes of the country’s next generation of leaders.
Corruption is not merely a crime to be punished; it is a way of life, one deeply embedded in Filipino culture. “Palusot,” a common word in our vocabulary, is evidence of this unfortunate reality, referring to the way one circumvents rules or excuses wrongdoing, often through deception. For instance, when our desire to bypass bureaucratic red tape leads us to instinctively seek backdoor solutions like fixers, we continue to propagate the weed of corruption without realizing how it has rooted itself in our attitudes, habits, and culture. A Pulse Asia survey released last September also revealed that 59% of respondents were already desensitized to the issue of corruption, perceiving it as a normal part of Philippine politics. This highlights how continual exposure to dishonesty whitewashes even the “big” things into normality and begs the question of how much more so the “little” betrayals of integrity have already been integrated into our culture.
Thus, the fight to eradicate corruption must begin not at the level of those in authority, but at the micro levels of society: the home, and even the school, church, and local community. It isn’t enough to pull out a weed—you must take it out by the roots. By teaching children that dishonesty and deception have no place in our democracy through big and small displays of integrity, we establish a culture of discipline. In a louder, more powerful manner than words could ever achieve, our everyday actions send a clear message: integrity can never be optional, regardless of the scale.
While teaching integrity from the bottom and reprogramming generations of ingrained culture may not yield immediate results, it plants a seed that will, in due time, bear fruit. After all, integrity can’t be built overnight, just as corruption wasn’t. In the same way that children don’t transform into corrupt politicians after a single day, week, or month, integrity must be instilled through consistent, intentional efforts over time.
Ultimately, the fight against corruption starts with the little things we do as children, students, parents, teachers, and citizens of a democracy. As Luke 16:10 says, “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.” Besides our calls for justice and accountability in the government, let our small, steady efforts sow the seeds for character and excellence in our own homes and communities. Again, corruption starts at home—and therefore so must integrity.
