integrity and honor, corruption and dishonor

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INTEGRITY AND HONOR,

CORRUPTION AND DISHONORWhere corruption flourishes, honor perishesWhen dishonor is admired,

integrity has

expired

Graduate SchoolLecture Series on

Accountability and GovernanceManila, Philippines - August 18,

2010

James P. Wesberry, Jr.

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Preface

The definition of Wisdom

Magandang hapon

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CORRUPTION AND DISHONOR

Jim WesberryUniversity of the East

Manila, August 18, 2010

Faith in Godis the

definition of Wisdom

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Integrity is telling myself the truth and Honesty is telling

the truth to other people.

Spencer Johnson

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Fading Honor…..

“Honor” is an endangered word…a devalued verbal currency.

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The anonymity of the megacity has relegated honor to the garbage heap of history. Personal invisibility within the mass of humanity has obviated the need to be honorable or even honest. Who cares what others think?

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Choose a good reputation over great riches; being held in high esteem is better than silver or gold.

- Proverbs 22:1

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Simultaneously with the diminishing

importance of honor

its meaning is being diluted into

n o t h i n g n e s s

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Honor, though not yet dead, like the proverbial old soldier of the ballad…

is just fading away

Ballad: Old Soldiers Never Die ----

There is an old cookhouse, far far away Where we get pork and beans, three times a day.

Beefsteak we never see, damn-all sugar for our tea And we are gradually fading away.

Old soldiers never die, Never die, never die, Old soldiers never die They just fade away.

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Rather fail with honor than succeed by fraud

- Sophocles

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It is best to live with honor for just a day than with dishonor for many decades - Sri Sathya Sai Baba, Indian Spiritual Leader

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•Honorificabilitudinitatibus •Honorificabilitudinity•Honorableness•Honorability•Honorable•Honoree•Hon.

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•Is HONOR fading away too?•Will it become obsolete?•Do we, as individuals, deserve to be honored?•Do our parents and families deserve to be honored?•Does our country deserve to be honored?•Does it make any difference anymore?•If honor fades away, what will replace it?

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What is an Honorable Man? (1)

•An honorable man is one who deserves honor. He deserves honor because of his character.•A man whose children look up to him as an example of a great father deserves honor.•A man whose wife can respect and love him for his integrity, honesty, and faithfulness deserves honor.

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What is an Honorable Man? (2)

•A man whose family and friends respect him for his decency and goodness deserves honor.•A man who holds the intent to live the best life he can, deserves honor.•A man who dedicates his life to making the world a better place, deserves honor.•Honorable men are those whose lives inspire us, enrich our world, and make the planet better by being here.

- Jennifer Jones

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A person is not given integrity.

It results from the relentless pursuit of honesty at all times

-author unknown

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Integrity + Honesty + Accountability + Ethics + Credibility

= HONORABILITY

Corruption + Fraud + Bribery + Irresponsibility + Inveracity

= DISHONOR

The Character Equations

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• It is no longer always a disgrace, blemish or stigma to be corrupt, dishonest or dishonorable.

• Contempt for formerly high standards is now often worn as an ornament of pride, rather than a blemish of shame.

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Jose Marti, Cuban Patriot

SHAME must be made

fashionable

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In the Orwellian “Newspeak” of 2010:

DISGRACEFUL ACTS ARE HONORABLE

CORRUPTION IS OPPORTUNITY

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The pollution of the human character is a

far worse danger than environmental

contamination or global warming

TODAY

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Since an intelligence common to us all makes things known to us and formulates them in our minds, honorable actions are ascribed by us to virtue, and dishonorable actions to vice; and only a madman would conclude that these judgments are matters of opinion, and not fixed by nature.

- Marcus Tullius Cicero

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I hope that I shall always possess Firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider

the most enviable of all titles, the character of an

Honest ManGEORGE WASHINGTON

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Some short snapshots of corrupt practices in Georgia at mid-2oth Century

• A powerful and despotic County Judge also owned a business that sold his own county more gasoline that all its vehicles and equipment could possibly have used in one whole year. He became the first and only judge impeached, convicted and disbarred in the state.

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• Every single county official in a certain county but one was found by an audit involved in some means of using their office for personal gain. The one honest official, a few years later while serving as prosecutor of bootleggers was blown to bits in his driveway by a bomb attached to his auto ignition.

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• A County Commissioner contracted his own construction company with state funds to build roads in his own county. Upon exposure in an audit he was driven from office and convicted only to be freed by a corrupt judge. Several years later he was reelected by a forgiving electorate.

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• A tractor dealer created scores of fictitious companies to bid against each other on state procurements where through collusion with Assistant State Purchasing Officer no other companies received requests to bid. Finally he turned state's evidence reluctantly but never admitted guilt though hundreds of documents signed by him bidding against himself were proven. He served a limited prison term.

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• The Governor's brother received monthly checks from major state supplier. He was indicted, tried and found not guilty through the brilliance of an astute defense lawyer before a gullible jury. He later was elected to the State Legislature.

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• Numerous officials enriched themselves legally by buying undeveloped property at intersections where major highways were to be constructed.

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• Tax collection administrators covered up thefts by a colleague who when proven guilty took drugs to try to trick a polygraph test.

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• Vote tally trickery, legal shenanigans and lock changes on the Capitol Building’s doors resulted in the state actually having simultaneously three governors instead of one for several weeks.

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• Election law rigging made one rural voter’s ballot worth more than four city dwellers votes over many decades.

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•Dead people were so well organized in one county that they voted in alphabetical order in state elections. (One State Senator jokingly introduced a bill to prohibit the deceased from voting after they had been dead for two years).

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Swimming in Fertilizer

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Rolling in Toilet Paper

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If the chief party, whether it be the people, or the army, or the nobility, which you think most useful and of most consequence to you for the conservation of your dignity, be corrupt, you must follow their humor and indulge them,

and in that case honesty and virtue are pernicious.

- Machiavelli

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Seen too oft, familiar with her face, we first endure, then pity,

then embrace. ---Alexander Pope

Vice and Corruption

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KLEPTOCRACY

Government by thieves

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Kleptofungus

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Integrity and honorability constitute the real

Kleptofungicide

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To accountability we must add integrity, to integrity we must add honesty, to honesty we must add ethical conduct and to ethical conduct we must add credibility through truthfulness and

transparency.

Then we will merit honor…and we must not let honor fade away.

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Concluding remarks from a recent study (1)

“The level of corruption in the Philippines…failed to show significant improvement despite decades-long struggle to curb corruption through various laws and policies. Deeply entrenched personalistic politics is an obstacle to reform efforts. Another reason is turf war between present and previous incumbent politicians. The new administration tends to abandon programs initiated by the previous administration…wasting incremental success achieved by the previous government…

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Concluding remarks from a recent study (2)

The Neo-Patrimonial System (using state resources to secure loyalty in the general population) is sustained by commonly seen features in developing countries, particularly ethno-linguistic fractionalization, absence of democracy and accountability and economic inequality…productive forces have to learn to operate within this system, while keeping a firm long-term goal of creating a system which will value integrity and dignity much more than personal and material gains from political power.”

– From Corruption and Development, Revisited, Jenny D. Balboa and Shinji Takenaka, Philippine Institute of Development Studies, June, 2010

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EXTRACTS FROM BENIGNO S. AQUINO IIIPLATFORM of GOVERNMENT

• Corruption robs our children of their protection, nutrition and education.

• Corruption destroys our families and communities.• Corruption steals from our farmers and workers.• Corruption deters businessmen from investing in our

economy.• This has eroded our spirit as individuals, as

communities, as a people.• We have lost trust in the democratic institutions we so

courageously re-established after the dictatorship…• We have ceased to depend on the patriotism and civic

engagement that used to animate many of our efforts…• Our moral faculties as a people have been paralyzed.

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EXTRACTS FROM BENIGNO S. AQUINO III

PLATFORM of GOVERNMENT

The Vision for the Philippines A country with…

• 1. A re-awakened sense of right and wrong, through the living examples of our highest leaders…

• 3. A collective belief that doing the right thing does not only make sense morally, but translates into economic value as well;

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1 LORD, who may dwell in your sanctuary?

Who may live on your holy hill?2 He whose walk is blameless

and who does what is righteous,

who speaks the truth from his heart

3 and has no slander on his tongue,

who does his neighbor no wrong

and casts no slur on his fellowman,

Psalm 15

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4 who despises a vile man but honors those who

fear the LORD, who keeps his oath

even when it hurts,5 who lends his money

without usury and does not accept a bribe against the innocent.

He who does these things will never be shaken.

Psalm 15



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An honest man

is the most

noble work of

God .

Alexander Pope

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Post Script: Two unforgettable corruption cases

The case of Vice Presidential larceny of the sacred cow dung.

The case of the public official who stole a piece of the moon.

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Sacred cow dung encased in gold

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The goal of every culture is to decay through over-civilization; the factors of decadence,—luxury, skepticism, weariness and superstition,—are constant. The civilization of one epoch becomes the manure of the next.

- Cyril Connolly (1903–1974), British critic

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Retuning the stolen piece of the moon.

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Corruption is nature's way of restoring our faith in

Democracy - Peter Ustinov

"They could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent."

- Daniel 6:4

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God Bless the Philippines

God Bless You

Thank You

Jim &

Lea

Te x t a n d P o w e r P o i n t s a t h t t p : / / w w w . j i m w e s . c o m / i d 9 8 . h t m l

Pagpalain kayo ng Dios

Mabuhay

Salamat

integrity and honor, corruption and dishonor

Education