Neal Cruz echoes Jaime Licauco in lament about Pinoy presumed criminality

In his Inquirer.net column today, Neal Cruz laments the way our society applies a blanket presumption of criminality to its citizens...
Why is it that in conducting almost all transactions in the Philippines, you have to have clearance from the National Bureau of Investigation that you are not a criminal and you have to prove your birth with a birth certificate? Are criminals so widespread in the Philippines that it is presumed that any person without an NBI clearance is a criminal?
I recall years ago in 2001 how Jaime Licauco also in an Inquirer.net piece echoed the same sentiment.
A nation whose policies and rules are based on the assumption that everybody is a cheat and liar unless proven otherwise cannot long endure. Take a close look at our bureaucracy and its rules. It is burdened by elaborate and often unnecessary checks and balances so that nothing ever gets done in the process.
Some fundamental things about Filipino society simply don't change.

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