Dominican priest-scientist: ‘Bayanihan a key to combat corruption’

By Alexander Cardenas

March 22, 2023

(Photo sourced from http://mattersmost.deviantart.com)

FILIPINO HUMILITY is needed to combat the brunt of corruption in the Philippines, Fr. Nicanor Austriaco, O.P., said during the 55th St. Thomas Moore lecture on Wednesday, March 22, at the University of Santo Tomas.

Bayanihan, the spirit of communal unity, predisposes Filipino society to combat corruption, as it is a common good that resonates for the benefit of a whole.

In light of the communal unity directly combating corruption, it becomes pointless to be selfish because how it only contributes to the country’s problem over time.

“The common good is something that you need, but you can only get with other people. Friendships have always been like this; you cannot be a friend to yourself,” Austriaco said.

“The good, an authentic good, is something that you want. It is an object of desire, and it perfects your nature. This is something that you need to become the best human being that you can be, and so it allows us to flourish as human beings,” he added.

Austriaco noted that corruption can occur when people seek common good in an inappropriate situation, and when the Filipino norms of pakikisama, hiya, and utang na loob are applied in wrong contexts: “Charges of corruption can be used as a weapon to hurl against your enemies to try to slow them, to try to bring them down, to try to disenfranchise them, to try to delegitimize them in the sight of the Filipinos,” he said.

Austriaco, who is also a molecular biologist, experienced corruption in his role as a research fellow for OCTA, a private polling, research, and consultation firm which made projections and policy suggestions during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines.

“I was charged with corruption because a lot of people were saying that the OCTA projections were driven primarily by self-interest or interest to a particular political party, political stakeholder in the country, so it was a shock for me,” he said.

Austriaco defined corruption using the Thomistic theology in which he explained its two kinds. “We often think about the public sector corruption, which is the corruption in the government but similarly there is a parallel level of corruption called the private sector corruption which happens at all levels and we’re dealing here with the government, then we have the church, a company, and the university,” he added.

Showing data taken from Transparency International, Austriaco said that based off the global corruption barometer, the Philippines is ranked 116 out of 180 based off an assessment of the perception amongst Filipino people.

“86 percent of Filipinos believe that their government is corrupt … Now what happens if you take a look at the percentage of public service workers, service employees who have taken an active bribe in the past year, what you discover is that 19 percent.”

Austriaco urged Filipinos to be humble and seek the common good properly in their own little ways in their respective lives, while also helping the poor, if they can.

The priest noted that the same values of pakikisama, hiya, and utang na loob, which are virtuous in the right situations, can mean that living a life of integrity may not be a walk in the park, as this would mean shunning friends and family in order to focus on the right priority at all times.

“The danger is that there’s always a hint of utang na loob somewhere underneath every transaction”

“As a Catholic university, we instill moral integrity and try to evade the existing tendency of corruption within us.”

Since it’s inception in 2003, the Global Corruption Barometer has surveyed the experiences of everyday people confronting corruption around the world.

The St. Thomas Moore lecture is annually held to commemorate the English martyr and the Faculty of Arts and Letters’ patron saint.