Wife-blaming – the classic macho excuse
Time and again the wife has been used as a ready alibi for a man’s errant behaviour. Recently we heard it straight from the mouth of Philippine National Police Chief Ronald dela Rosa. “One of the major reasons why a cop ends up corrupt – why he looks for extra income through illegal means – is because of the wife.”
Corruption is corruption. In the Philippines it is endemic, pervasive in a state system that treats public service as a private business venture.
The problem with the police chief is that, not only does he trivialise the rottenness in the whole force, he passes the blame on to women – in the macho, misogynist and imbecilic manner of many men in authority the world over. It spares corrupt officials from being held accountable and instead makes the wife the root of corruption. Blaming women for corruption in officialdom is striking at the wrong targets.
Norma P Dollaga
Kasimbayan Women’s Collective
(Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN)
