Corruption : A major problem in the Philippines

Transparency International (TI), a global civil society organisation leading the fight against corruption, has recently released a Corruption Perception Index (CPI) for 2008. The annual Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), first released in 1995, is the best known of TI’s tools. It has been widely credited with putting TI and the issue of corruption on the international policy agenda. The CPI ranks 180 countries by their perceived levels of corruption, as determined by expert assessments and opinion surveys.

The CPI of the Philippines has gone down by 0.2 to 2.3 from the 2007 of 2.5, with 0 as the most corrupt and 10 as the least. The CPI is one of the basis of investors if a country is suitable for investments.

Among all Asian countries, only the Cambodia and Myanmar have lower CPI, all other Asian countries have higher CPI. This indicates that the Philippines will have a slim chance of being chosen as an investment location for foreigners.

Other news

RP's all-time low in corruption rating a wake-up call, Palace admits

Thursday, September 25 (Philstar.com) - Malacañang admitted the drop in the Philippines' corruption rating in the latest Transparency International (TI) survey was a wake-up call for the administration.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita and Presidential Management Staff chief Secretary Cerge Remonde, however, stressed the poll might have overlooked accomplishments of the government in fighting corruption.

They said President Arroyo has been leading the campaign to streamline the bureaucracy to get rid of corruption in the government.

They said her efforts alone are not enough without the involvement of the public.

Ermita said concerned agencies were tasked to validate the TI report, noting that the feedback received by the government from the private sector on efforts to fight corruption are different from the results of the survey.

The Philippines' rating in the 2008 Global Corruption Report released by the TI dropped 10 places from the previous year, tying for 141st place with Cameroon, Iran and Yemen.

Last year, the country tied for 131st place with Burundi, Honduras, Iran, Libya, Nepal and Yemen. In Asia, the Philippines rated higher than Indonesia at 143rd place.

TI officials in the country said the failure to resolve major corruption cases, citing the controversial national broadband deal with China's ZTE Corp., contributed to the plunge in the country's ratings.

"This (TI survey) is a wake-up call but we assure the international community that we remain persistent in wiping out this scourge," Remonde said.

Ermita said the Ombudsman is not only involved in prosecuting alleged corrupt officials but is also leading efforts to educate civil workers of the proper values in serving the public.

"We are asking the Department of Trade and Industry to validate figures (of the survey). From our initial inquiry, TI made the survey among the business community, especially the foreign business community, which have dealings in the Philippines so we can undertake corrective measures," he said.

Ermita said the survey was a cause for concern, as this would impact "negatively on the national economy and our status as a country, therefore we prefer that we improve our performance in the drive vs. corruption."

Ermita admitted the Bureaus of Customs and Internal Revenue are among the agencies perceived to be most corruption-prone.

He said the two revenue-generating offices should be given more focus in anti-corruption programs.

The Catholic Church said the TI report should serve as a challenge to President Arroyo to do better.

Caloocan Bishop Deogracias Iniguez, chairman of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines-Episcopal Commission on Public Affairs (CBCP-ECPA), said the public should treat the TI report as an indication "of what is going on in Malacañang" in managing the country's economy. - Paolo Romero With Evelyn Macairan (Philstar News Service, www.philstar.com)

RP gets lowest score ever for anti-corruption efforts

9/23/2008 5:01 PM (abs-cbnNEWS.com) - The Philippines is perceived as more corrupt now than last year, a study by the international anti-corruption group Transparency International showed.

The 2008 Corruption Perception Index showed that the Philippines got a score of 2.3 in 2007—down by 0.2% from 2.5 in 2007. This year’s score is the lowest for the country since 1995 when the first CPI was devised as a tool for a country’s resolve to fight corruption.

The corruption perception index measures the perception of the degree of corruption as seen by business people and analysts. This year, 180 countries are rated from 0 to 10. A grade of 10 means the country is perceived as very clean while a rating of 0 means the country is perceived as very corrupt.

The Philippines ranked 141st—along with Cameroon, Iran and Yemen—and was behind most of its ASEAN neighbors. Singapore, with a 9.2 rating, was in the 4th place while Malaysia got 5.1 to land on the 47th place. Thailand is in the 80th spot with a rating of 3.5 while Vietnam is in the 121st place with a score of 2.7 Indonesia, which ranked lower than the Philippines last year, was in 126th place with a rating of 2.6

In Southeast Asia, the Philippines fared better than Timor-Leste (145th with a grade of 2.2), Laos (151st with a rating of  2.0), Cambodia (166th with a score of 1.8) and Myanmar (178th with a score of 1.3)

Denmark, New Zealand and Sweden got the highest score of 9.3 while Singapore landed on the second spot with a rating of 9.2. Countries that received the lowest rating are  Haiti (1.4), Iraq and Myanmar (1.3) and Somalia (1.0)

Big corruption cases

Dolores Espanol, chair of Transparency International-Philippines, said the prevalence of big corruption cases in the previous months was the main reason in the big drop of the Philippines ratings.

“There are so many major corruption issues that were investigated by the Blue Ribbon Committee and these could have been reason,” Dolores Espanol, chair of Transparency International-Philippines told Newsbreak.

Dolores said that there should be continuity in the investigation of the big corruption issues like the national broadband deal with ZTE. “If there is a case of corruption, there should be no cover up or passing buck until the case is investigated, filed in court and resolved.”

Asked about the performance of anti-corruption institutions like the Office of the Ombudsman and the anti-graft court Sandiganbayan, Espanol said there have been initiatives but “we cannot feel the effect of these initiatives.”

131st in 2007

The Philippines ranked 131st out of 180 in 2007 and got a score of 2.5 rating along with Iran, Burundi, Yemen, Honduras,  Libya and Nepal. The Philippines trailed behind most of its Asian neighbors.

Singapore was ranked 4th in the world with a rating of 9.3 percent while Malaysia and South Korea landed on the 43rd spot with a rating if 5.1. Emerging economies China and India were on the 72nd spot with a 3.5 rating. Thailand was on the 84th spot with a rating of 3.3 while Vietnam and East Timor garnered a rating of 2.6 to land on the 123rd spot.

The Philippines, however, fared better than Indonesia (143rd with a rating of 2.3), Cambodia and Bangladesh (162nd spot with a rating of 2.0). Meanwhile, Laos landed on the 168th spot and got a rating of 1.9 while Myanmar got a rating of 1.4 to land on the 179th place.

Strengthen oversight and accountability

Huguette Labelle, chair of Transparency International said a strong oversight through parliaments, law enforcement, independent media and a vibrant civil society are needed in stemming corruption.

“When these institutions are weak, corruption spirals out of control with horrendous consequences for ordinary people, and for justice and equality in societies more badly,” Labelle said in a statement.  

The TI 2008 Global Corruption Report, meanwhile, showed that unchecked levels of corruption would add US$50 billion to the cost of achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on water and Sanitation.

Johann Graf Lambsdorff, professor at University of Passau in Germany, said countries can gain a lot from fighting corruption. “Evidence suggests that an improvement in the CPI by one point [on a 10-point scale] increases capital inflows by 0.5 percent of a country’s gross domestic product and average income by as much as 4 percent.”

Corruption killing the Filipino economy

Santosh Digal (Zamboanga news) - According to Transparency International, the Philippines are one of the most corrupt countries in the world, showing no improvement over last year, driving potential investors away.

Manila (AsiaNews) – The Philippines are one of the most corrupt countries in the world with a rating of 2.5 on a 0-10 scale, a situation that might dry up foreign investments. What is more for international watchdog group Transparency International (TI) the situation has not changed since last year.

Speaking at the Asia-Pacific planning conference held in Manila, TI regional director Pascal Fabie said the unchanged rating means that nothing has been done to improve the situation with the result that international perceptions of the country’s economy are worsening.

Fabie said that one of the worst problems is how corruption charges are used in Filipino politics. Seen from the outside there seems to be an endless series of thefts and this influences decisions to invest in the country. Both government and opposition must stop this. Even if such charges turn out to be false, they are harmful. Trading accusations for political purposes must end.

For Vincent Lazatin, executive director of Transparency and Accountability Network, corruption is not greater in the Philippines than in its South-East Asian neighbours. “The difference is that in other countries when business sets aside money to grease the wheels, they know that they will get what they paid for. In the Philippines, there is no certainty.”