It is not the system that are corrupt, it is the people who are corrupted. I do not agree with you that the merit system is used to push the Bitcoin Core agenda, but that is a topic not related to this thread. The lack of a proper governing body or system to fight scams are a bigger concern than the possibility that such a system could be corrupted.

If a system gets corrupted, it loses credibility and people would reject it's findings. So there are no reason why they would want to go that route.