Let me start with, corrupt people dont think their corrupt.

Just like evil people dont think their evil.

Because getting their starts with one small step across a line.
Corruption has become our cancer. Left untreated for so long, it has grown like a tumor spreading through the
body of our society and tearing at and eating away the muscle and tissue of a nation. Left unattended, it has
spread to the far reaches of our country, directly and indirectly affecting many sectors of society, regardless of
age and religion, social status or gender. And whether one is directly participating in it and involved in its
machinations or one is merely victimized by its effects, it has become a blight on us all.
The treatment of cancer requires radical procedures and drastic changes in lifestyle. It starts with early
detection. Just as small tumors grow to larger ones, little and early indiscretions have a nasty habit of becoming
bigger scandals in the future. Unless identified and excised at an early stage, corruption too will grow until it
has become so embedded in a system that its removal becomes a threat to the very system it feeds on. Beyond
its initial removal, its treatment requires medication and attention to prevent its return and spread. It requires
constant monitoring and screening to check for its return. For many patients, this becomes a way of life, a
routine difficult to accept at first but acceptable nonetheless in the face of alternatives. It requires patience and
commitment and, above all, discipline, to live these changes on a daily basis.
This is the way we must treat the cancer that is corruption. We must engage in early detection. No infraction
should be considered too small or too early to be insignificant. The petty briber today may be tomorrows
influence-peddler. The cutthroat entrepreneur who cuts corners and bends rules today may be tomorrows tax
evader. Todays minor infraction at the street comer or curbside may be tomorrows case of grand larceny.
After detection, we must move quickly to isolate and remove the source of cancer. Infractions should be
penalized appropriately and immediately, regardless of ones status in life. Beyond criminal charges, there
should be administrative means to deal with this disease in the public and private sector to arrest its growth,
isolate it, and stamp it out. But beyond all of that, we should exercise our common-sense and our old-world
sense of community and national values to ostracize instead of lionize those who have made a success of
themselves through corrupt practices. We need to regain and re-learn the good, old-fashioned ethics of hard
work, honesty, and integrity to succeed in life rather than practice the ethics of lagay to get ahead. We need to
recapture the sense of pride in an honest days work and defeat the notion that success can come only to the
corrupt. We need to believe once again - and practice - not the corrupted values of tax evasion, price-padding,
and under delivery of public goods, but the Filipino values of honesty, industry, and community. These were the
values I am sure we were all taught as children by our parents, teachers, Church, and elders.
Even after early detection and removal, constant screening and monitoring is necessary because corruption, like
cancer, may come back and attack a different organ. This requires discipline and persistence, something we
Filipinos are not always good at. While we are said to be at our best in moments of crisis, our passion, fervor,
and commitment are not always maintained at peak levels- when situations become less critical. Yet it is at those
moments when our vigilance drops that corruption returns to attack us all once again. We cannot live constantly
in a state of crisis just as we should not awaken only from crisis to crisis. Instead, we need to maintain constant
vigilance with periodic and systematic checks to see how our vital signs are performing. To do this, we will
need to shift our paradigm of time and sense of urgency from crisis management to proactive preventive care.

We will need to redefine our notion of People Power.

I have believed in People Power for a long time, not simply in its political dimension as we have seen it
exercised but in its social and economic dimensions as I continue to see it carried out on a daily basis by people
and organizations. It is a power harnessed by people pulling in one direction, with a common vision and
common goal. It is a power built by the accumulation of many small efforts which add up to a sum far greater
than the total of its parts. And it is a power which takes a life of its own and becomes larger than you and me. It
is a legacy. It is a beacon which I hope future generations will look to for guidance and direction.
Fight the right battles, analyze the defeats, and celebrate all your victories so people will know that they are not
alone in the war against corruption. I am proud to stand with you in your courageous battle, and I call on all
concerned Filipinos to give of their time, their talent, and their resources and be part of this, our coalition and
our crusade against corruption! I have no doubt that, as a united People, we will prevail! Thank you.