Metro Manila has been confined to the intensive care unit at MMDA hospital for many years now, but despite political doctors and administrative nurses throwing everything but the kitchen sink at the patient, its condition does not seem to be improving. Maybe it’s time we acknowledged that treatment alone won’t work if the whole system everyone is working under is rotten to the core.

I first arrived in Metro Manila in 2011, and traffic was really bad back then. Now, almost 15 years later, it seems worse than ever before. While other cities around the world have made progress toward improving things, this grand old place appears to be stuck in perpetual chaos. Politicians are shrugging their shoulders, and the agency tasked with sorting out the mess is now reduced to urging malls to postpone sales because it has seemingly tried everything else. Meanwhile, billions of pesos are lost to the economy because citizens are stuck in traffic, and thousands of people die every year from air pollution, accidents, and delayed ambulances.

While drivers in the metro do have a bit of a reputation for a more relaxed interpretation of road rules, I don’t think it’s the humans behind the wheel (or the handlebar) that are the biggest problem here. Some may disagree, but I actually believe that Filipinos are very good drivers, perfectly capable of following road rules and navigating even complex highway codes with ease. I base that belief on personal observation, being married to one and also having traveled and lived in quite a few countries now.

The key is that Filipinos are most excellent and law-abiding drivers as long as they are outside of the Philippines. The moment they step back onto home soil, it seems to be “do what you want shall be the whole of the law.” That indicates a bigger problem. A systemic one that goes way beyond bus lanes, coding schemes, and other well-intentioned (and often failed) remedies. A vicious, self-perpetuating cycle where drivers misbehave because other drivers misbehave, and we all have become conditioned to simply accept that this is the way things are. That, somehow, it’s okay to live like this—to exist in miserable perpetuity with no light at the end of the tunnel (assuming the tunnel even exists, and the funds for it haven’t been stolen).

The cold, hard truth is it’s not okay. None of this is. Not the constant Carmageddon. Not the chaotic state of traffic, the flooding, the potholes, and the patchwork of rules governing this mega city that in turn are overseen by a group of political egos that all think they know best and nobody else.

So, why are formerly car-loving places like Paris, London or Amsterdam able to change and Metro Manila isn’t? Why is traffic in Tokyo or Singapore civilized, and an untamed mess around here? The answer, I suspect, is corruption. Pure and simple. The whole system is so rotten throughout that no idea, no concept, no advancement to the better—no matter how good—can develop its full effects at the moment.

While there are glimpses of hope and moves in the right direction—the reintroduction of NCAP to combat street-level corruption, and the huge protests following the recent flood-control project scandal being two—a lot more will need to be done to get things in order.

Corruption destroys the processes and the procedures needed to efficiently run a city (or anything, really). It not only holds Metro Manila and the country back, but it also harms and even kills ordinary people who just want to get on with their lives. I’m not just talking about the very visible examples here like disastrous flooding and other calamities that would have been handled better without funds meant to prevent or assist with them disappearing in dark channels.

It’s everyday things that are made worse by it. From ticket traps to air-pollution rules not being enforced correctly, corruption harms all of us in a myriad of ways every day. And it’s not just public officials who are at fault. It takes two to tango, and as long as everyone seemingly accepts the current status quo, things will continue to be bad, and Metro Manila will fall further behind the rest of the world.

The biggest problem is that it appears to be everywhere, and reducing it to less harmful levels seems to be a Herculean task. Eradicating it completely is—realistically speaking—impossible, as every country has some level of it. But it should at least be brought under control a lot more, because it is hurting the country and her people. Doing this will be hard, and the reasons why we are in this mess go way beyond what one little article could cover. But at least, it needs to be said, exposed, and opposed again and again and again, until things start to change. Santa won’t be able to deliver this gift to the country, so it’s down to all of us to work toward it.