Corruption on a Personal Level

"Tanggapin ang pera,
Iboto ang kursunada/konsensya"

That has got to be one of the most popular quotations nowadays. As you know, the National Elections is just around the corner, that includes the local elections. And as far as I'm concerned, it is as tensioned (on a personal level) as the national elections.

I wrote this piece to share my views on this issue. I know that some people see this as "getting even" on candidates who use their money to influence our less fortunate, "mahirap," kababayans to vote for them. These "mahihirap" will trade a day's meal or two (amounting to something from 500 pesos to around 1,500 pesos just to assure that "candidate" their vote in the elections. While some "wise" candidates will accept the money but in turn, vote for the candidate whom their "conscience" tells them to vote.

For me that is plain nonsense and unethical that it provides a ground for a more personal definition of corruption on a more, an in-depth, personal aspect.

In the first place, accepting the money is plain corruption. Even though we're not actually voting for them, we tolerate their money giving "philosophy" (so to speak) by accepting it and giving our promise to vote for them. Some of these individuals actually look very optimistic to the point they practice ingratiation, in order to get the money in exchange of their "vote" for that candidate.

Ang pagtanggap ng pera mula sa mga kandidatong namimili ng boto ay MALI pa din. We are simply tolerating their evil practice by being "evil" in our own ways. How can you entrust your future and the future of sons and daughters to these kind of politicians who corrupt the minds of the voters by giving fantastic promises to the people and even claiming that they are "poor"

Let us be responsible for our action practicing in our own ways Confucius' Political Philosophy. I heard from an all-knowing individual to just get the money and you're free as long as you voted for who your conscience is telling you.

Let's be socially conscious of our actions, because as Sir Isaac Newton's law states it, "For every action, there is always an equal and opposite reaction."

“The only way to escape the personal corruption of praise is to go on working.”
-Albert Einsten