If there?s no public outrage over newspaper headlines in connection with the World Bank report of rampant rigging of bids and awards of World Bank-financed infrastructure projects, it?s simply because people acknowledge them as common practice.

Much less is there public outrage over allegations that the stench of the scams and anomalies have reached all the way up to the President and the First Gentleman Mike Arroyo. It?s also because they are mere insinuations, innuendoes and plain hearsay as claimed by this or that complainant, and in the case of the World Bank scandal, by losing bidders.

The truth of the matter is that all these claims of riggings of bidding and awards happened even during the Marcos dictatorship. Santa Banana, so what else is new except for faces of politicians and everybody else involved?

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These alleged riggings of biddings and awards are all part of the system, which have been institutionalized and even culturalized.

Why do I say institutionalized? Take the case of Japanese government-financed infrastructure and public works projects. It begins with the MITI (Ministry of Trade and Industry) in Japan choosing which member of the Zaibatsu will undertake the project, be it Marubeni, C. Itoh, Sumitomo, Kanematsu or another who will handle the project with their Philippine counterpart, with the assistance and approval, of course, of the Department of Public Works and Highways.

Marubeni, for instance, then chooses its own Philippine contractor counterpart, who in turn colludes with other contractors who manipulate the bidding, again with the DPWH also in collusion, naturally. Those who cannot participate in the bidding or those who lose in the bidding will naturally be compensated. Some are given subcontractors or other means of participating in the project. Everybody happy?including some public works officials. It goes without saying naturally that a politician or politicians are asked to help, especially those whose provinces or regions the project is located. They are also given some percentage.

To ensure the approval of the project, politicians are prone to claim that it has also the approval of Malaca?ang. And that also gets a cut on a percentage. And these cuts or percentages the World Bank calls a bribe take the form of so-called ?facilitation fees? or ?mobilization fees? already imputed in the total cost of the project.

China-financed infrastructure and public works projects are another matter. At times, the project cost is bloated to such an extent that it becomes scandalous since the Chinese are known to be more generous than the Japanese. Recall that the Chinese gave us the word ?tong? which is bribe in any language.

And the process goes through the same wringer or rigmarole as I mentioned in Japanese-funded projects.

And my gulay, that?s where the problem lies. The system has been institutionalized to an extent that it?s common practice in foreign-funded projects.

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What is clearly disadvantageous to the government and public interest in connection with the institutionalization of the system of corruption is that in order for the contractors, both Japanese and Filipinos, to make more money, they cheat on specifications and bloat costs. Substandard materials are supplied. Or worse, the result is sub-standard, like in the laying of thin asphalt or cement so much so that when there?s strong rains or an earthquake, potholes are revealed and the layering is broken. We see them all in public works projects.

Another problem is that while we, Asians, accept the need for ?facilitation fees? or ?mobilization fees? to push through the projects, Americans call them a bribe. In a way, that?s when we separate the Asians from the Americans since we Asians generally accept the fact that there?s need for ?something for the boys? for getting things done.

And that?s what is happening to the World Bank, mostly controlled by Americans, who cannot accept anything over and above the costs, thus calling it a bribe.

Lest I?m misunderstood, I would like to make it very clear that I?m not making excuses for added project costs to include percentages for DPWH officials, politicians and other facilitators for that matter. What I?m saying is that the difference in culture between Asians and Americans could be the reason why the World Bank is so alarmed by what they call riggings of biddings and awards.

And that?s the reason why the controversy has been ?culturalized? to an extent that as far as the World Bank is concerned, unless the government institutes reforms in the system, it will stop funding Philippine infrastructure projects. Santa Banana, the problem is how can you change the system which has been institutionalized? To me, that?s a challenge for both Malaca?ang and Congress.

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The attempt on the part of Senator Ping Lacson to implicate the President and the First Gentleman with the alleged World Bank report on bid and award riggings based on complaints of a losing Japanese contractor and excerpts of the World Bank report are part and parcel of attempts on the part of the opposition to demonize the First Couple. But for what reason? President Arroyo will step down in 2010. I can only speculate.

Lacson is not stupid when he comes out with mere allegations and plain hearsay that people will already mass and go to the street to ask for the President?s resignation. What then is he after, unless of course, he believes that demonizing the First Couple with unsubstantiated allegations is his ticket to Malaca?ang.

But Lacson also knows that he?s not the only one demonizing the First Couple. He has to fall in line with others have before him.

I can speculate that?s part of the campaign of the opposition to make public opinion go against any attempt of Malaca?ang to amend the Constitution to extend the term of President Arroyo, an alleged attempt which, to me, continues to haunt the opposition for 2010. They see the bogeyman of term extension behind every bush.

In other words, what haunts Lacson and others like him in the opposition is that with Chacha, the President can extend her term. My gulay, what else can I think since GMA is no longer running for President so much so that she is still worth attacking, criticizing and demonizing?

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It?s sad to think that media, especially among my colleagues in opinion pages, have not given credit to where it due considering the fact that while the world is reeling under the weight of recession and the global financial meltdown, we, in the Philippines, can still count our blessings that unlike our neighbors which are now in recession, we can still boast of growth up to 4.5 percent on the average.

We have not given credit, for instance, to the fact that President Arroyo, at the cost of her popularity among the people, dared to institute painful and drastic fiscal and economic reforms early enough without which our economic fundamentals wouldn?t be as sound as they are today to withstand the global meltdown.

Instead, many of us in media would rather talk of the failure of the President to meet with US President Barack Obama and her settling for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, as if that would mean life and death for us Filipinos.

That?s the problem with most of us in media. We nitpick and find faults, rather than look at the macro situation where we are in a better shape than most countries around us.

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I got this SOS text message from Annie Tan Yee, our treasurer at Philippines Inc., the umbrella organization of business chambers and organizations, which I co-founded and where I am now an adviser. ?Do you know the gods in Ortigas Center? I don?t know who can help me. The Ortigas Center fenced the whole frontage of my small building along ADB Avenue leaving no access to customers.?

Ms. Tan Yee has that small building along ADB Avenue selling Volvo cars, and she?s frantic. I told her to consult her lawyer, which she?ll do since I don?t know any ?gods? at Ortigas Center. Annie and her husband also distribute Ford and Mazda vehicles.

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What? After years of urging government and the Comelec to automate the elections, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines would now prefer manual counting. The reason for this is that the automation is prone to cheating and fraud.

My gulay, back again to manual counting for more and more cheating? Happy days are here again for election cheaters!