Embedding a culture of integrity

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The Asian Development Bank, which is headquartered in the Philippines, last week celebrated the 2025 International Anti-Corruption Day with the theme “Embedding a culture of integrity.”

During its Dec. 11 celebration, the ADB invited no less than Pasig City Mayor Victor “Vico” Sotto to share his thoughts about how he has been embedding a culture of integrity in his local community of Pasig.

It was my first time to actually see and hear the young Sotto scion. His presence at ADB’s celebration of Anti-Corruption Day resulted in a blockbuster standing room crowd at the ADB’s main auditorium, which in previous celebrations, according to John Versantvoort, head of the ADB’s Office of Anti-corruption and Integrity (OAI), usually managed to fill only a small meeting room.

One would have thought that the ADB staffers were waiting to see a rockstar or idol as they collectively roared a greeting upon the entry of the 36-year-old mayor of Pasig, simultaneously raising their cellphones to get a photo of the popular local government official.

As he prepared to deliver his speech, someone in the crowd even shouted out the common fan pledge “I love you,” and the now public savvy Mayor Vico responding with “I love you too!” – much to the roaring approval of the ADB crowd.

Mayor Vico could be considered the anti-corruption idol, with his appeal coming from his principled stance against corruption and his more than five years of trying to institutionalize anti-corruption practices in the Pasig City LGU.

Mayor Vico showed that he is a realist and admits that there is no silver bullet to eradicate corruption, even acknowledging that after years of trying to instill integrity, all such hard and principled work could just as easily be overturned by another politician.

Corruption, he admitted, “has been deeply ingrained in our culture, in our institutions. Standard Operating Procedure or SOP, the very term implies that it’s automatic. It has been institutionalized.”

Fortunately, he observed, “we see the gravity of the situation. The good thing now is that we’re beginning to see what really we’re talking about here…We’re seeing how everyone is a part of it. And probably we haven’t even seen the entire iceberg…Not that we’re only seeing the tip, but maybe there are still things that we haven’t even really uncovered or realized. It’s really everywhere. And we’re not just talking about government. We’re also talking about non-profits and non-government organizations. We’re also talking about the private sector. We’re talking about all the institutions. We’re talking about culture.”

He cited the most common practice of corruption in everyday traffic when a Filipino driver is stopped by a traffic enforcer. “Whether we’ll admit it or not, something passes through our mind.” On the other hand, he points out, “bring that same Filipino to Singapore, to the States, or to Europe, that same driver wouldn’t even think about it… it’s the same person. So, we can’t say that, oh, no, here, he had no integrity, but all of a sudden, he goes to Singapore. All of a sudden he has integrity. It doesn’t make sense. And that can only lead us to the conclusion that here it happens because it’s acceptable. Here it happens because it’s been part of our culture. Here it happens because it’s been, for the longest time, accepted and normalized. And that’s what we need to fight. We need to fight the acceptance and the normalization of corruption in our society, in our culture.”

He admits, “There is not going to be an easy way. There are no silver bullets. There’s not gonna be any shortcut that we can take to get there tomorrow. But we can, in every step of the way, in everything that we do, whether big or small, there’s something that we can do and something that we can contribute.

“The good thing is, if we’re talking about it, we’re saying that the problem is already part of our culture and what makes up our culture, all of us, that only means that the solution can also come from all of us…After all, nothing ever happened that was big, that didn’t start small. Nothing ever became institutionalized, that didn’t start as a small policy or a small decision,” referring both to the vicious cycle of corruption and similarly to embedding anti-corruption practices.

As such, Mayor Vico stressed, the work to institutionalize anti-corruption practices should continue, one-day at a time until it becomes part of the culture. “It’s difficult, but we have to start somewhere, and that’s where everyone of us can do something.”

ADB president Masato Kanda also delivered an impassioned speech where he acknowledged that “corruption diverts funds meant to pave roads, build schools and shield the vulnerable from economic shocks. The loss of these funds is not an accounting error. It is a tax on the poor that siphons away the future.”

Corruption, Kando emphasized, “knows no borders. It is a global challenge that undermines confidence in institutions and slows progress. But for Asia and the Pacific, the stakes are higher. We are running out of time to lift people out of poverty. We cannot afford waste.”

He added that “across the region, we see time and time again how corruption undermines the essential trust between citizens and governments. Every peso, rupee and dollar lost to corruption is theft from the communities who rely on us the most.”

Thus, Kando said, “This fight cannot be won from an office tower. It requires leadership on the ground.” He praised Mayor Sotto, noting that “your work in Pasig City is a blueprint for what is possible. You have shown that when you remove the hidden costs of corruption, you unlock the visible benefits of development, better health care, stronger education and more effective public services. You have proven that political will can dismantle even the most entrenched systems. This is the kind of courage and action we need.”

The ADB, he said, “is doubling down in this fight. We have zero tolerance for corruption. But to realize this, we need strong partners. We are ready to work harder with our developing member countries to plug the leaks and build the systems that prevent graft before it starts. With our partners, we want to build institutions that are immune to fraud, so that every cent of development finance delivers real change.”