Gonzaga, Stephenie May 18, 2020

Panday, Mariana Yumi FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT #4

We have chosen the topic “Corruption” because it is relevant in today’s era. If I were to
list all the politicians who committed corruption, it will be endless. One of the most known
corrupt politicians is Marcos. People will say that he has built so many infrastructures but little
did they know that Marcos has a debt in the foreign aid worth 395.51 billion and that is still
taxed until now. He was compared to a child buying a soy sauce but bought “adobo” instead,
I think he's bitten off more than he can chew. Because of that, Philippines failed to improve its
economic growth unlike other eastern countries near us. Boomers would defend Marcos because
he established the Golden Age, but Marcos stole 3.363 trillion pesos and it increase the
underemployment rate from 10 % to 33 %. The debt of the Philippines grew to 16 billion in a
span of just 5 years.

Stories like “the Philippines were much safer because of Martial law” is a lie because
34,000 people were tortured and 70,000 individuals were detained because of trying to resist
against his regime and lastly 3,240 were killed without undergoing process. The torture method
includes: Isolation, Beating, Confinement, Electric Shock, Rape and Molestation. Ferdinand was
even recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records for performing the “Greatest Robbery of
a Government”. Given the reasons above, Marcos should not be buried in the “Libingan ng mga
Bayani” because he will never be considered as a hero.

On the other hand, in this new generation whereas a simple resident citizen of the
Philippines can also do corruption. Presented in the picture above is Janet Lim-Napoles in which
she was the head of the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) that eventually became a
fraud and named “Pork Barrel Scam”. In accordance to the reading, Janet Napoles just did a
Social Disorganisation because she did not perform the right function and purpose of the Priority
Development Assistance Fund. She controlled the funds by letting it fall onto her hands through
listing fake names and signatures in the beneficiaries of the Priority Development Assistance
Fund. This fraud led her to be luxurious and rich in a short period of time, together with her
daughter Jeane Napoles who also faces a lot of charges in the Philippines because of Tax
Evasion and in the US Government due to money laundering. Their wrong doing and ill-gotten
wealth is exactly what is written in the reading “leading to the illegal misappropriation of aid,
inefficiencies and crime in local and national bureaucracies”. We, as a business students, it can
be seen that the mere fact that the legislative members appointed Janet Napoles as the head of
fundraiser for the Priority Development Assistance Fund is already a bad move since whether we
accuse her in the first place or not, she already did not follow the process of internal control. It
consists of 6 processes; control environment, control activities, information and communication,
monitoring and risk assessment. These are arranged based on what should be observed first and
so on respectively. The main reason why process of internal control should be observed is
because to avoid fraud and self-interest. The Pork Barrel Scam has led to corruption and chaos to
the whole country due to the fact that Janet Napoles is a private person, but she can already steal
millions of pesos from the taxpayers. The allocated lump sum of money did not go where it
should be, hence, it goes the pockets of Janet Napoles, Jeane Napoles, Bong Revilla, Jinggoy
Estrada, Juan Ponce Enrile and many lawmakers in the Philippines. We, as the law-abiding
citizens of our beloved country, we should always look on the things like this and think critically,
judge based on the law and on what is right. If it seems that corruption is already eating the
system, we should do something to let others know and as a community, let us fight for our
rights.

References:

Salaverria, L. (2016). “Revival of Bataan Nuclear Power Plant Not Yet Definite”. Retrieved from
newsinfo.inquirer.net/845788/revival-of-bataan-nuclear-power-plant-not-yet-defnite

Beaver, W. (1999). “Nuclear Nightmares in The Philippines”. Retrieved from

link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BFOO871673

Mandrilla, K. & Punongbayan J. (2016). “Marcos Years Marked 'Golden Age' Of PH

Economy?”. Retrieved from www.rappler.com/views/imho/124682-marcos-economy-golden-
age-philippines

McGeown, K. (2013). “What Happened to The Marcos Fortune?”. Retrieved from

bbc.com/news/world-asia-21022457

Guiness Book of World Records “Officially Amzaing”. Retrieved from

http://www.guinessworldrecords.com/world-records/65607-greatest-robbery-of-a-gvernment

“How PDAF Ended Up With JLN?”. Retrieved from https://www.inquirer.net/napoles/what-is-

pdaf
(2017). “The Know: Priority Development Assistance Fund”. Retrieved from
https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/859381/the-know-priority-development-assistance-fund

Buan, L. (2018). “U.S. Indicts Napoles Family for Money Laundering”. Retrieved from
https://www.rappler.com/nation/208607-us-department-justice-indicts-napoles-family-money-
laundering

Peterson, S. (n.d.). “Internal Control Reviews From Berntson Porter & Company” Retrieved
from https://www.bpcpa.com/service/internal-controls/