Two YouTube programs jolted me from a sleepy Saturday afternoon. One was a program where two hosts focused on the Province of Samar, and another was hosted by former Sec. of Socio-economic Planning, Professor Solita Monsod (After class with Mareng Winnie), who centered her comments on the strong link between corruption and the poverty of an area and the high political corruption index of the Philippines compared to other Southeast Asian countries.
She also pointed out the 2025 slowdown of the Philippine economy (4.4 percent). She was direct: corruption is endemic in Congress.
The two hosts pointed out that the Congressmen from the two Samar districts were brothers, and that the Governor of Samar is the brother of the Vice-Governor; many other local officials are their relatives, such as City Mayors.
This information surprised me. Frankly, I did not know that. It awakened me to the realization that the concentration of government power in one family can promote corruption. They implied that the concentration of power negatively affected the province's economic growth, highlighted by poor roads and bridges.
I did some research and found out that the poverty incidence in this province is around 25 percent, meaning one in every four families is classified as poor, barely able to earn enough income to sustain the needs of their families. Not surprising from a regional perspective, since it is also close to the regional average. The national average is much lower, at fifteen percent.
I was looking for a sensible explanation, then I recalled a statement made by former Sec. of Socio-economic Planning Felipe Medalla in a lecture I attended recently. He said the data show that the poorer the community, the greater the likelihood that political leaders can control elections and ensure they win by using money to buy votes. He also said that this trend could be lowered in the distant future. This will happen if the population of rural areas with poor economic conditions declines, probably through a lower maternal fertility rate, which is now trending, meaning less babies were being born, thus lowering the population of poor communities.
He also said that, given this reality, only the rich can win elections, those who are capable of doing a better job will not be leaders because they cannot win or will not even run.
From the different personalities mentioned, I learned to connect the dots: poor infrastructure, high poverty rates, election spending, winning elections, and governing without solving the poverty problem.
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