WEALTH ADDICTION, CORRUPTION

By Philip M. Lustre Jr.

Wealth addiction refers to the overpowering - and consuming - desire of an individual to acquire an extraordinary amount of ill-gotten wealth. 

It is no different from other forms of addition like sex addiction, drug addiction or nicotine addiction. 

The impulse or craving for ill-gotten wealth cripples the wealth addict's capability to reason out.

Like a rat, which suffers from extreme deprivation, a wealth addict would do everything - or anything - to acq uire and collect as much ill-gotten wealth as possible without moral compunction. 

He would employ every available means - fair or foul - to satisfy his craving to live like a king or queen for 20 lifetimes. He is essentially amoral.

A wealth addict is not bothered if he keeps on hiding his ill-gotten wealth for the rest of his life. 

He does not care if he keeps on his illegally transferring wealth from one hiding place to another to avoid detection by state authorities. 

After acquiring so much ill-gotten wealth, what a wealth addict does the rest of his life is to keep on hiding them in every conceivable place.

He is happy to play some cat and mouse games with them, deriving his extreme pleasure every time he outfoxes the authorities.

Wealth addicts abound in our country. 

They are court magistrates, who keep on transferring their loot from one bank to another, while showing statements of assets and liabilities (SALNs) diluted with diminished assets and value. 

Or they could be lawmakers, who build mansions that cost over P120 million pesos or use their ill-gotten wealth to support dozens of children and their paramours.

Or he could be deposed head of state, who ate malunggay (horseradish) and lowly dinengdeng, while building up the millions of dollars in secret deposits in Swiss banks some. 

Or he could be another head of state, who keeps on supporting his mistresses while hordes of receiving money payola from jueteng lords.

Or they could be some scoundrels, who resort to Ponzi schemes, to milk hapless but equally greedy investors and speed away to some unknown parts bringing their hard earned money.

Or they could be legitimate businessmen, who could not rise from their debilitating sense of greed permissible. 

They are even around because society allows their existence. 

We should not allow them to stay in our midst.