If corruption is the enemy, then how do we fight it? For the guys at the CenPEG or Center for People Empowerment in Governance, the first step is to know your enemy. And to arm us with this knowledge, they published the “Corruptionary,” a 207-page volume of terms that all refer to the many interesting ways that the government and the bureaucracy cheat and steal from us.
“Corruptionary: Natatanging diksyonaryo ng mga salitang korapsyon”
Edited by Bonifacio T. Ilagan
Published by the Center for People Empowerment in Governance
207 pages
BY RAMIL DIGAL GULLE
BOOK REVIEW
abs-cbnNEWS.com
Posted by Bulatlat
Vol. VIII, No. 14, May 11-17, 2008
If corruption is the enemy, then how do we fight it? For the guys at the CenPEG or Center for People Empowerment in Governance, the first step is to know your enemy. And to arm us with this knowledge, they published the “Corruptionary,” a 207-page volume of terms that all refer to the many interesting ways that the government and the bureaucracy cheat and steal from us.
The Corruptionary compiles hundreds of terms that refer to corrupt acts done by–well, everyone, it seems, from lowly government employees to the highest officials of the land.
The terms show a mixture of humor, disgust and anger toward corrupt persons and their acts. Many, if not most of the terms, reflect the Pinoy talent for puns and a hilarious dig at the corrupt official/s.
Below is a sampling of those terms and their meanings:
Hidden budget – a noun referring to a budget allocation that is not specified and made not to be so obvious. As a result, this allocation could easily be pocketed.
Drakula – named after the classic novel, this noun refers to a corrupt official who is able to siphon off public funds for his own personal gain.
Dorobo – from the Japanese word that means “thief”; this adjective refers to any item that was previously stolen, but was stolen a second time by someone else.
Doktor – nothing medical or healing about this. This refers to a person who is an expert at any or all of the following: 1) making fake documents; 2) a fixer who can get a procedure speeded up or approved in exchange for money; or 3) as a verb, “dinoktor”, to mean manipulating a process for illegal ends.
“Horrorable”
“Horrorable” is a noun that refers to a corrupt judge who should have been more honorable in his conduct. Isn’t that right, Your, er, Your Horror?
“Department Store of Justice”
Some of these terms are specific to the government agency involved in a particular corrupt act. For example, there’s the noun “Department Store of Justice.”
This term, according to the Corruptionary, arose from the habit of some Department of Justice employees to go malling—at the nearby Robinson’s Place in Ermita, Manila—even during officer hours. The Corruptionary gives samples of dialogue to show how this and other terms are used:
Opisyal 1: Myka, nakita mo ba si Diña? May ipapagawa akong ilang dokumento.
Myka: Sir, pumunta po yata sa Department Store of Justice.
Opisyal 1: Ganun ba? Sayang, di ko alam! Me ipapabili pa naman ako.
Translation:
Official: Myka, have you seen Diña? I need her to process some documents.
Myka: Sir, I think she went to the Deparment Store of Justice.
Official: Really? Too bad, I didn’t know! I would have asked her to buy something for me.
“Daya Time Record”
Then there’s the corrupt version of the government Day Time Record. Since some government employees have found a way to cheat on the number of hours they actually worked in a day, they are said to be submitting a “Daya Time Record”–a doctored record intended to help them get maximum wages for minimum hours spent at work. “Daya” is the Filipino word for “cheating” or “cheat”.
“Bendisyon”
Other terms reflect our Catholic upbringing. “Bendisyon” in the Corruptionary refers not to any holy benediction or blessing but means the approval of a corrupt high official for something illegal to be done.
For example:
“Juana: Uy, di ba bawal yan? First come, first served, di ba?
Petra: Hehehe. Me bendisyon ito ni Secretary, laban ka? Gagawin ko ba ito kung wala?
