OPINION | CORRUPTION IS NOT A POLITICAL MONOPOLY: THE PEOPLE DESERVE MORE THAN ANTI-GOVERNMENT SLOGANS

By: Andres XP de Jesus

The fight against corruption loses its credibility when accountability is demanded from political opponents but conveniently forgotten among political allies.

Corruption is one of the most powerful rallying cries in Philippine politics. It brings people to the streets, fuels public outrage, dominates headlines, and gives political movements a convenient language for mobilizing support.

But are we genuinely fighting corruption, or are we simply fighting corruption when it becomes politically convenient?

On October 28, the Department of Budget and Management announced a renewed push for procurement reforms, emphasizing transparent public spending, fair competition, digital procurement, and stronger accountability. The initiative is scheduled to be discussed in a regional ASEAN dialogue on November 4.

These reforms recognize an important reality: government procurement is not merely an administrative transaction. It determines whether public money becomes functional classrooms, reliable hospitals, safe roads, agricultural support, and essential services or disappears through inefficiency, irregularities, and possible corruption.

But announcing reforms is only the beginning. Filipinos must demand proof that these reforms actually work.

The same standard must apply to every administration, government official, political party, and organization claiming to represent the people.

There is a troubling contradiction in political discourse when corruption is presented as an exclusive characteristic of those in power, while organizations and personalities aligned with particular ideological movements are treated as though their political identity automatically exempts them from scrutiny.

No political ideology guarantees integrity. No revolutionary history automatically establishes moral authority. And no organization should be beyond criticism simply because it claims to fight for the poor.

The Left has every right to criticize the government. Progressive organizations have every right to organize, protest, expose wrongdoing, and demand reforms. These are legitimate expressions of democratic participation.

But the right to criticize does not create an exemption from criticism.

If an organization demands transparency from the  government, it should welcome transparency in its own activities. If it demands accountability from public officials, it should not dismiss questions about its own leadership, conduct, or political methods as automatically malicious.

The same applies to government officials who invoke stability, development, or national interest to avoid answering legitimate questions.

Accountability must be universal, not selective.

It is also misleading to suggest that because corruption exists within democratic institutions, democratic institutions are incapable of addressing it. The answer to institutional weaknesses should be stronger oversight, independent investigations, transparent procurement, functioning courts, informed citizens, and meaningful reforms, not the abandonment of democratic accountability.

Nor should every government initiative automatically be dismissed as propaganda. Its merits must be assessed through evidence: Was the budget properly allocated? Was the project completed? Were the intended beneficiaries reached? Were the results independently verified?

These are questions that matter more than political labels.

For ordinary Filipinos, corruption is not an ideological debate. It is a classroom without sufficient chairs, a hospital without adequate supplies, a road that deteriorates prematurely, or an assistance program that never reaches the intended beneficiary.

Every peso lost to corruption is an opportunity taken away from someone who needs public service.

The country does not need competing political groups claiming exclusive ownership of the people's suffering. It needs institutions and citizens willing to confront wrongdoing regardless of who commits it.

The government must be accountable. The opposition must be accountable. Political organizations must be accountable. Those who claim to speak in the name of the people must also be prepared to answer to the people.

The real test of being pro-people is not how loudly one condemns corruption, but how consistently one practices transparency, respects accountability, and contributes to solutions.

Filipinos deserve more than slogans. They deserve a government that delivers, an opposition that scrutinizes responsibly, and a political culture where nobody is too powerful, too popular, or too ideologically protected to be questioned.

Because the fight against corruption should never be about protecting one political camp from another.

It should be about protecting the Filipino people from all forms of abuse of power.