In the Philippines, corruption is a structural issue embedded in patronage politics and the distribution of infrastructure budgets. Despite the government's frequent anti-corruption campaigns, major scandals continue to emerge. Pressure from civil society and the media remains strong, but the interconnectedness between political elites, local dynasties, and the bureaucracy often makes anti-corruption efforts inconsistent. With a stagnant CPI score of around 33, the Philippines ranks among the lowest in ASEAN. This situation demonstrates that legal reform alone is not enough; it must be accompanied by budget transparency, the independence of audit institutions, and a strengthened public oversight role.
~snip~
All of this reminds me of the situation in the EU where some countries, despite having been members of the union for more than a decade, cannot move from the bottom because the old structures do not want to change, as they are a continuation of the old communist structures that remain deeply rooted in all systems of government. When one political party rules a country for ten years continuously and has about thirty ministers who are caught in dirty business, and receives praise from Brussels, then it is a clear sign that even here in the West things are not nearly as they are portrayed.
This is the flaw of democracy, we got options to choose from A or B but what if both A and B are not fit to be elected? If we skip our vote, still someone from these two is going to get elected and that's the problem.
~snip~
Some say it's always smarter to choose the lesser evil, but I say it's important to go to the polls and exercise your right, even if that means taking the ballot and crossing everything out, thus making it invalid. In a way, it's a message to the candidates that they're all the same and not worth being elected.
A saying goes something like this:
"bad people (politicians) are elected by good people who stay at home during elections."