Stirring his coffee, the Norweigian guest wondered : "Newspapers here report about many exemplary Filipinos in the inside pages. Does that balance the greed that headlines scream about? The Chinese say: 'Greed is insatiable' ."

Here are some examples he cited: In the $330 million ZTE broadband scandal, kickbacks were jacked up from the usual 20% to more 60%. Bubukol yan chief, whistleblower Jun Lozada warned. But ex-commissioner Benjamin Abalos & Partners retorted : "Back off."

Ex-justice secretary Hernando Perez denies he extorted $2-million from then Rep. Mark Jimenez to grease approval of a contract with an Argentinian power firm.

Joseph Estrada masqueraded as Jose Velarde, the courts found. Yet, almost all of the P3.32 billion, stashed into the notorious Jose Velarde account, had been siphoned after Erap was convicted for plunder. In Switzerland , over $4 million, in numbered accounts, were whisked away by Marcos crony Herminio Disini. Earlier, Disini skimmed purchase of a flawed Westinghouse nuclear plant that never produced a kilowatt of power..

"A greedy father will have thieves for children", Serbian farmers say. Avarice on the national level is cloned by locals.

In full-page ads, Catholic leaders, in Surigao, denounced scalping of remaining forests in Bislig, despite a Supreme Court decision against Picop. Drivers plying ARRM roads fear Land Transportation Office agents as much as armed bandits, Inquirer's Michael Tan wrote

A "man's greed is like a snake that seeks to swallow an elephant," Asian sages teach.

That fits Lapu-Lapu city. The Ombudsman ruled that Mayor Arturo Radaza and officials be haled to court for overpricing by six to seven times street lamps bought for the Asean summit. Radaza et al bought computer clones at P49,500 each - double the cost in legit shops, a pending charge claims..

A Mactan Island Chamber of Commerce and Industry survey found that 25 of 28 respondents were fleeced by City Hall grafters for permits and clearances. So, did President Arroyo approve Radaza's P10 billion Mactan North Reclamation project, sleaze nothwithstanding?.

What's clear is Radaza bypassed National Economic Development Authority, Cebu Provincial Governemnt and other agencies., Isn't that throwing good money after bad?.

In Cebu City , Mayor Tomas Osmeña urged visitors to report harassment by immigration officials. Korean nationals Lee Dong Bum and wife Kim Sun were threatened, then bundled into a car and hustled to Manila , by agents Bernard Cruzata and Eduardo Silverio. There, a red-faced Commissioner Marcelino Libanan released them after finding the couple's business was legal and they had permits to stay until 2009.

"That's not an isolated case," the Norwegian friend added. "That happens everyday. To keep grafters at arm's length, I don't go to immigration. I just fly to Hong Kong and have the consulate there process my papers."

"How quickly nature falls into revolt / When gold becomes her object," Henry IV told Gloucester : That partly explains continuing instability of government as well as impotence of the opposition.

From Malacanang, Congress down to Lapu-Lapu, Bislig and offices like customs, cash has become the end-all-and-be all. From a position for service, public office morphs into a tool for conserving perks.

Older Filipinos called that "ley del estomago." Where "law of the stomach" prevails, poverty becomes the original sin. Thus, the lives of a Jose W. Diokno who battled for a nation of integrity, or Good Shepherd nun Christine Tan, who served Malate's poor, turn into "aberrations". They're ignored for hewing to "values that endure even after the sun goes out."

In far too many offices today, ingots make for right. "Here, net worth equals self worth," a banker explains. Balances in bank accounts, the make of one's car and residence address open doors. They set the pecking order at dinner tables.

As a result, the priority becomes seeking larger locks, hiring more security guards, and raising more already high walls of gated enclaves. Many withdraw from contact with the needy. In so doing, they jettison the chance to ease pain --- which keeps all of us human. The Ilokano saying puts it very well :"Greed is a tree that grows on arid souls",
"There is a widespread problem of purposelessness," Catholic University president William Byron observed. "To have becomes more important than to be. To possess is better than to share. To do for self takes precedence over doing for others. And things, rather than values, shape our decisions…. We stress the material side of our existence and exclude the spiritual."

The 1987 Constitution - which every other man in this jaded town wants to keel haul - declares: "The use of property bears a social function." In street jargon, that means the goods of this earth, from scarce rice, water, land to talents, are meant for all. "A man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions," the Master once said.

Far too many in public office shred that constitutional yardstick. But there are hundreds of ordinary citizens, out there, who quietly share with the deprived. They give of their time, funds, skills and time. They are, as Chesterton once said, "wandering fires" who somehow "balance the greed that headlines scream about"

(E-mail: juan_mercado@boholchronicle.com)