09/08/2026
WILL CORRUPTION BRING THE PHILIPPINE ECONOMY DOWN?
With all the news about corruption, wasted public funds and poor leadership, I understand why many Filipinos are becoming discouraged. May pag-asa pa ba ang Pilipinas?
I believe there is. And here is one reason we sometimes overlook: Government is not the Philippine economy. The Filipino people are.
The Philippines has roughly 50 million employed Filipinos. The Civil Service Commission counts about 2.1 million career and non-career government personnel. Meanwhile, more than 40 million Filipinos earn their living outside government as private-sector employees, entrepreneurs, farmers, fishermen, vendors, drivers, freelancers and other workers.
Just look around us. Every morning, factories start their production lines. Farmers go to their fields. Stores and restaurants open. Trucks deliver goods. Banks finance homes and businesses. Construction workers build. Entrepreneurs risk their savings. Millions of employees report for work.
Much of our banking, telecommunications, manufacturing, retail, food production, agriculture, real estate, logistics and power generation is driven by private enterprise. Major toll roads are privately operated. Even some of our largest airports and infrastructure projects now involve substantial private-sector investment and management.
This is the engine that keeps the Philippine economy moving.
Does this mean government doesn’t matter? Of course not. Good government can make that engine run much faster. It builds infrastructure, educates our children, maintains peace and order, enforces fair rules and gives investors confidence to put their money here.
Bad government does the opposite. Corruption is like driving with the handbrake on. Umaandar tayo, pero mas mabagal, mas mahal at mas mahirap.
Every peso stolen is a peso that could have built a classroom, improved a hospital, irrigated a farm or created infrastructure that makes businesses more competitive.
That is why the real tragedy of corruption is not simply that it could bring our economy down. It is that the Philippines could be moving so much faster without it.
Imagine the sipag, talento at diskarte of Filipinos supported by a government equally competent, honest and hardworking. Imagine where this country could be.
But while we demand better government, we must never surrender our hope or our responsibility to politicians. Hindi puwedeng lahat iasa sa gobyerno.
If you are an employee, do your work well. If you are an entrepreneur, build and create jobs. If you are a farmer, improve your productivity. If you are young, learn skills that will make you competitive anywhere in the world. If you have succeeded, help others rise with you.
Progress is not created only in Malacañang or Congress. It is created every morning in our farms, factories, offices, stores, construction sites and small businesses across the country.
Governments come and go. Presidents come and go. But the Filipino keeps working, building, investing, producing and dreaming.
So yes, let us fight corruption. Let us demand accountability. Let us insist on better leadership. But huwag tayong mawalan ng pag-asa.
Government can accelerate our progress. Bad government can painfully slow it down.
But the future of the Philippines does not belong to government alone. It belongs to more than 100 million Filipinos and every one of us has a part in building it.
Perhaps instead of always asking, “Ano ba ang ginagawa ng gobyerno para sa atin?”
We should also ask: “Ano ang ginagawa natin para umunlad ang Pilipinas?”
Because ultimately, the strongest reason to believe in the Philippines has never been its politicians. It is its people.
(from Ronald Macarinas, retired CEO)
