Tuesday, July 13, 2010

How Corrupt Are We?

Last night, I had every intention of being home by 9:30 PM, browse around the internet and blog. I know I haven't been blogging lately, so I intended to be back in circulation last night. Fate, however, had other plans for me. I got into a minor car accident with a taxi driver 5 minutes away from home. I was alone. It was nothing serious, but it was hard to identify who was at fault. Me, being the panicky person that I was, called my dad. In the end, we all went to the police station to settle things.

Like I said, it was hard to say who was at fault. The policeman who was in charge of our case, pulled my dad aside while the cab driver and I did the paperwork. He was hoping that my dad would bribe him to skew the case in our favor. The nerve of that policeman! Everyone's heard of bribing policemen  to escape traffic violations, but I can't believe they'd stoop that low to get a few hundred bucks. Of course, my dad didn't. Then the talking went on. 

At the end of the night, the policeman said that both our licenses will get tickets because none of us would admit the blame. Both of us drivers contested, because it we felt that it was not fair to both of us. Then he said, "Sige ganito na lang, ano mas gusto niyo, for the good of the government or for the good of the office patrol?" He wanted us to pay him instead of paying our ticket. Normally, when you incur a traffic violation, policemen try to make us bribe them by making us think that it was our idea. But in this case, he already said it straight out! He even said, "Tulungan niyo na lang yung mga nagtratrabaho dito (Help those who are working here)." Wow, such nerve. 

In the end, we didn't pay anything, because his superior officer said some vague comments that we "interpreted" as meaning it's okay, we didn't have to pay.

It's so sad that the state of our country is so bad. Some people will do anything just to get a little more money. Policemen will tweak results for a small amount, just think what they will do for a big amount! If you can't trust the law enforcers in this country, who can you trust?

4 comments:

Georgina said...

shucks. that's so awkward and sad at the same time! i feel so bad for the policeman that he just blurted out "BRIBE ME" the nerve.

anyway, i hope you're ok! :)

Pammy said...

Oh jeez. No wonder they can't get majority of us Filipinos to completely trust them. So sad. :(

K said...

I'm so glad that you are ok!

I've heard of this kind of bribing happening, but I didn't know it was commonplace where you are!

Bernadette Villanueva said...

Good to know you're okay, dear. Grabe, I honestly feel "less safer" when policemen are around!

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