Inter Alia

CAUSES AND DRIVERS OF CORRUPTION Corruption inhabits no single shape, it is multitudinous, nuanced, and overlapping. In an effort to capture the copious nature of corruption, Johnston (2007) categorizes it into 4 Syndromes, namely: Influence Market Corruption, Elite Cartel Corruption, Official Mogul Corruption, and Oligarch and Chan corruption. Of these, the Philippines is most familiar with the Oligarch-and-Clan Corruption, characterized by “a disorderly, sometimes violent scramble among contending oligarchs seeking to parlay personal resources into wealth and power” (Abrea, 2023; Johnston, 2005).  This syndrome of corruption reflects the subjugation of public interest for the sake of private gain through bribery, patronage and control over state resources (Mendoza, 2023). These instances operate in self-reinforcing cycles, yet albeit repetitive and seemingly normative, they continue to inflict deep social harm. Oftentimes, growing more catastrophic, hence the continued need to ex...

  A torrent of betrayal trickled through my soul, coiled me with disgust, as if an act of treason to the morality I thought I carried. Reading ‘Small Boat’ by Vincent Delecroix exposed a darkness buried in the subconscious, repressed but clamoring, pleading its way to revelation, a moral decay plotting escape from isolation, seeking expression. And in our encounter, I’ve met a part of me that is vile, rotten, inhuman – so abhorrent and nauseating. This realization, this revealing, felt like a confession; crammed in a dim, claustrophobic cube, seeking reconciliation with humanity, seeking to lacerate the apathy. I didn’t like what it revealed. I wanted to annihilate the darkness inhabiting my soul. Normatively, I recognize that what she did was wrong – instilling false hope that rescue is en route, assuming that it’s just a matter of time before the boat drifts to English waters, and ultimately, not sending any help at all. And it’s disturbing that I somehow accede to her reasoning,...