The phrase originated as a German phrase, used actually by Karl Marx to describe a certain class of society, actually its dregs: swindlers, beggars, brothel-owners and other rejects of society. Apparently in the fight between the elite and the proletariat, this section of the latter was able and willing – I suppose if the price is right – to advance the interests of the elite as against those of their own class.

I thought about the phrase the other day when I was trying to mentally translate the word "bukol," which became famous (or should we say infamous?) in the Jun Lozada reference to bloated government contracts that would make obvious the "add-ons" that were meant to be payoffs. "Bubukol yan" was what he said – referring to the image of a lump on one’s head that stands out after either hitting your head on something due to a bad fall or after someone bonks you with something hard, maybe in the hope of knocking some sense into you.

"Bukol" in Tagalog is lump in English – which is why I started conjuring up images of a new "lump"-en proletariat, those men and women who brazenly pad government contracts in order to hide, and then protect, their kickbacks and payoffs.

Dregs of society indeed, although the more successful ones are able to live among the rich and famous and grace the pages of our society magazines. Somehow the monies in their pocket (never mind how they got there in the first place) serve to numb these folks to the guilt and shame that they must have initially been carrying knowing what the real root of their wealth is. Then again, why shouldn’t that shame and guilt fade so quickly when you have church leaders who will be happy to bless you for a few pieces of silver?

(So what if someone steals, they all steal anyway, just as so what if someone cheats when everyone cheats anyway, right, fathers? By the way, here is an extra wad of bills for your parish.)

Anyway, the 21st Century now gives us an expanded definition of "lump"-en proletariat to now include reference to all those who live and die making money by padding government contracts and making sure that "the boys" are properly rewarded for their assistance in facilitating the award of the project.

Then again, maybe we should stand the new definition on its head. Maybe we should strive to make sure that it is we, the victims of these dregs of society, who should be known as the 21st century version of the lumpen. And this is possible if indeed we use the concept of a bump on the head that results in a big lump – a "bukol" – as actually a wake-up call to have nothing further with the likes of these people.

And I really mean nothing further – as in no invites to our social events, no requests for them to be godfathers at the christening of our kids, not even invites to birthday parties of our puppies!

Think about it – why would you want your kid to grow up looking up to a man (or woman) whom he should actually be looking down on? What type of values is that, if not plain and simple matter of "pera pera"? Godfathers are supposed to represent the values we wish to impart to our children; they are to be surrogate parents who pledge before God to help raise the child in the best Christian spirit. Of course if the "Christian spirit" being referred to here is to steal as much and then just hand over a check or a fat envelope to your friendly Catholic bishop and be absolved of all your sins, at least let’s be honest and open and transparent about it. But really now?

Don’t you wonder how many "bukols" got away? Take a survey of ordinary Filipinos and ask them how many contracts in ten had a "bukol" built into the price tag, and I will be surprised if the answer is less than 8. What does this mean? It means that for almost every contract government awards, someone makes money illicitly – and because someone makes money almost always someone loses money and the latter is you and me.

So isn’t it time indeed that all these bukols now figuratively adorning our heads should serve as our wake-up call? Because if all the bukols from the power plant deals, the Centennial expo, the Macapagal highway, the ZTE scam, the failed computerization of the Comelec, etc. etc. aren’t enough to wake us up then I don’t know if we ever will.