The fact is that the Philippines is NOT the most-corrupt country in the world. The Philippines is virtually an economic purgatory when compared to many countries, especially in Africa, and nations that are ruled by tin-pot dictators. The reason for the Philippines appearing to be more-corrupt than her neighbors is that our homeland has virtually a free and independent press. Filipino journalists have been doing exposes on corruption. There is hardly any press freedom in many of Southeast-Asian nations and, therefore, many corruption cases are not reported at all.

It is not as bad as what the local press, the Overseas-Filipino e-forums and the foreign media say about the Philippines. But things can go for the better much faster in our homeland if only the Overseas-Filipino workers (OFWs) and Overseas Filipinos, especially Filipino Americans, would stop living as if the culture of corruption has been invented by the Filipino.

While it is true that some Filipino-American leaders were once corrupt like in the case of some National Federation of Filipino-American Associations (NaFFAA) national executive officers (NEOs), these Fil-Am scalawags and scoundrels have been exposed, shamed and now ostracized. We should always act with the words of Rizal in mind: There are no tyrants where there are no slaves. In other words, there can be no bribe if there is no giver of the bribe money.

The OFWs and Overseas Filipinos (Balikbayans) have to stop inserting dollars in their foreign passports when they go home on vacations or business trips as they undergo customs and immigration checks at Philippine ports of entry. These customs and immigration personnel are not demanding tips or bribes. We should stop asking friends who hold high positions in the customs, immigration or military offices to meet us at the airport and arrange for our checked luggage to be cleared without any inspection, as if we are bringing in contraband items.

What say you, readers? (If you want your views to be included in subsequent articles about this topic, please e-mail your opinion to mediabcla@aol.com.)

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