19/03/2026
🎯🎯🎯
🛑PARE, PANO NAMAN SI EDI? 🛑
Let me tell you a story. Let’s just say it happened while I was busy shooting a film. Aside from my film persona, I have been in the restaurant business for over 30 years and continue to do so. I also have partnered with a group that designs technology programs meant for LGUs.
One day, due to a schedule conflict, I had to send a partner of mine to an exploratory meeting with a government official who I met while he was dining in one of my restos. The official supposedly wanted to look at some programs for his district.
The person I sent was young. Twenty-eight years old. Bright kid. Prepared well, went into the meeting thinking it would be a straightforward professional discussion.
At first it was exactly that. They talked about possible programs and how technology could help improve services in the district. Nothing unusual.
Then in the middle of the conversation, the official suddenly asked the question that apparently mattered the most to him.
“Magkano ba sa akin dyan?”
Just like that. I mean, JUST LIKE THAT!
When the kid came back and told me what happened, I honestly didn’t know whether to laugh or get angry.
Ang kapal naman. Wala pang proyekto, humihingi na!
Sa akin, sanay na ako makarinig ng ganyan. After decades in business and public life and politics, you hear things. You see how the system works behind the curtain. But imagine this: first meeting, kausap mo isang 28-year-old na junior lang, and that’s how you open the real conversation?
Ganun na ba talaga?
Wala na talagang preno?
Hindi man lang discreet?
You would think people would at least pretend to be careful. Maybe hint at it indirectly. Maybe use some polite code words. But no. Straight to the point. As if it’s the most normal question in the world.
That moment tells you something … ang lalim na ng problema natin.
We often talk about corruption as if it only exists in big scandals. The kind that makes headlines. The kind that gets investigated on television.
But corruption also lives in small moments like this. In casual expectations. In conversations where access to a public project is treated like a private franchise.
The assumption is simple: if a project enters that territory, someone must get a personal share.
That’s the invisible tax businesses deal with every day. It gets quietly added to project costs. It discourages honest entrepreneurs. It pushes away innovation because many people simply refuse to play the game.
In the end, the public pays for it anyway. Projects become more expensive, services move slower, and opportunities disappear before they even begin.
All because someone somewhere believes that public office automatically entitles them to a cut.
Let’s be clear about one thing.
A district is not private property. Public office is not a business franchise. And access to government should never depend on someone asking, “Magkano ba sa akin dyan?”
But when people say it that casually, without hesitation, you realize the culture has already normalized it.
And there lies the real problem.
