ABSTRACT
You are the newly appointed manager of ABC (Ltd.) Company’s subsidiary in Manila, the Philippines. Your company manufactures and distributes educational equipment for high schools, including audio-visual teaching materials. A large shipment worth about €50,000 has just arrived and is waiting to be released at customs. The customs authorities have informed you that there are “administrative delays” preventing the release of the equipment. After a week, you are told that “delays” are still in force. When you ask the customs official in charge when the equipment will
be released, he replied that it is hard to say, but, if you would make a small donation to the union vacation fund, it would be possible to secure a prompt release. You know that the shipment is being stored in an unsecure place and theft is certainly a possibility. Also, many school children are in need of the educational equipment. Payments to government officials are frequent in this country in order to “prioritize” decision-making. They are not illegal here. However, you are also aware that your home government has anti-bribery legislation that could apply to this situation and possibly result in a fine for your company. What alternatives are there to this dilemma? What should you do?
