I’m not a political scientist, but I don’t need to be one to see what’s rotting this country from the inside out. It’s corruption—brazen, deep-rooted, and getting worse. And among its ugliest forms is state capture: when a few powerful individuals, corporations, or interest groups take control of the government’s decisions to serve their own selfish interests.
This isn’t your garden-variety bribery. This is corruption on steroids. It’s the rewriting of laws, the perversion of justice, the outright betrayal of public trust. Its officials and elites colluding to turn public institutions into personal cash machines.
Here’s what it looks like:
- Laws rigged for the rich: Sudden policy shifts and suspiciously tailor-made regulations.
- Incompetents in charge: Strategic posts handed to cronies instead of qualified professionals.
- Watchdogs muzzled: Anti-corruption bodies, courts, and auditors systematically undermined.
- Media hijacked: A few oligarchs twisting the news or burying it altogether.
Sound familiar? The Philippines isn’t just flirting with state capture—we’re knee-deep in it. This isn’t politics as usual. This is daylight robbery of our future. And that’s exactly why we need to speak up. Because silence is complicity.
Now, let’s hear it from someone who knows this matter well—economic expert and political commentator Nikka C. Gaddi on State Capture: