Philippine news was abuzz the whole first week of September after Mikey Arroyo declared on national TV that he increased his net worth by millions of Philippine Pesos through "wedding gifts" and campaign funds. According to the news report on verafiles.org, Mikey told Solita Monsod and Arnold Clavio, hosts of the morning show, "Unang Hirit: "Siyempre unang una, kinasal tayo. Medyo nagkaroon tayo ng maraming regalo. Tapos pag kampanya, siyempre kahit paano maraming tumutulong sa atin (Of course, first I got married. We received a lot of gifts. Then during campaigns, somehow we get contributions).

The Connection Between Integrity and Keeping One's Word

First, one should define integrity. According to thefreedictionary.com, it means " The quality or condition of being whole or undivided; completeness." Another alternative definition is "The state of being unimpaired; soundness." If one sees government as an agency that produces results, then the condition in which it is impaired, not sound or divided would render it as suffering from a lack of integrity.

There is no need to color it as good or bad, it is simply impaired or ineffective. A government leader is elected to his post on the assumption that he will honor his word. If he honors his word, it is assumed that he completes his function and is unimpaired in his role. Thus, if the government leader breaks his word or does not follow through on his declarations, then he has a lack of integrity and cannot be effective in his work.