RP found most corrupt in Asia after Indonesia

THE Philippine government has failed to fight corruption, with lawmakers and the police perceived as the most corrupt, according to the anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International (TI).

The findings are contained in TI’s Global Corruption Barometer 2006 survey released Dec. 7.

The survey, which was done by Gallup International between July and September 2006 as part of its Voice of the People Survey, had 59,661 respondents in 62 low, middle and high-income countries.

The survey showed the Philippines ranking second in the Asia-Pacific region in corruption behind Indonesia (18 percent), followed by India (12 percent) and Thailand (10 percent).

In the survey, 16 percent of respondents who had had transactions in the Philippines admitted to paying a bribe last year, while 84 percent said they did not.

Thirty-one percent said government actions against corruption were "not efficient;" 24 percent said government "actually encourages it;" and 23 percent said government "does not fight it at all."

Only 13 percent said the actions were "efficient" and 8 percent "very efficient."

The police and the legislature were rated as the sectors suffering most from by corruption, followed by revenue-generating agencies and political parties.

On a scale of 1-5 with 1 as "not at all corrupt" and 5 as "extremely corrupt," respondents for the Philippines gave Congress and the police a 3.9 rating, or just one point shy of being "extremely corrupt."

Other sectors got the following ratings: taxation, 3.7; political parties, 3.5; military, 3.4; legal system, 3.4; business, 3.2; registry and permit services, 3.2; education. 3.0; utilities, 2.9; medical services, 2.9; non-government organizations, 2.6; media, 2.5; and religious sector, 2.1.

The respondents also said corruption affects mostly political life, business environment and personal/family life.

The same survey listed the Philippines as among 17 countries where between 16 to 40 percent of respondents reported having paid a bribe in the last 12 months.

The others were Bolivia, Congo-Brazzaville, Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, Greece, Indonesia, Kenya, Mexico, Moldova, Nigeria, Paraguay, Peru, Romania, Senegal, Ukraine, and Venezuela.

Between 51 to 70 percent of respondents believed corruption has affected political life in the Philippines and 28 other countries "to a large extent."

The TI survey showed that in most cases, people tend to be very negative about their government’s attempts to fight corruption. It also showed that only one in five surveyed worldwide thinks that government is effective to some degree in fighting corruption while nearly two in five say their government’s anti-corruption drive is "not effective."

One in six surveyed globally also thinks that their government actually encourages corruption rather than fight it.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said the TI survey is based on perception, which everyone is free to make.

"But definitely a country such as ours is trying to maintain the ability to be able to keep its ship of state upright and going in the (right) direction in spite of rough seas. Pero hindi naman siguro in the manner na pinapalabas nila na ang corruption is unabated," he said.

Ermita said there are government agencies such as the Presidential Anti-Graft Commission, Ombudsman, and Commission on Human Rights, to name a few, that are on hand to check corruption.

He said President Arroyo is naturally not pleased with the survey results.

Officials from the PAGC, Ombudsman, Presidential Commission on Good Government, Anti-Money Laundering Council, and the justice and foreign affairs departments are taking part in the UN convention against corruption in Jordan from Dec. 10 to 14.

COPYRIGHT 2004 © People's Independent Media Inc. Written by Regina Bengco