RP score worsens in corruption poll

Philippine standing in a yearly regional corruption survey has slipped by two notches amid political mudslinging before the May 10 elections, making it Asia Pacific’s fourth most corrupt economy, Hong Kong-based Political & Economic Risk Consultancy Ltd. (PERC) said. The Philippines scored 8.06 this year against 7 last year. On a scale of zero to 10, zero is the best score, indicating the lowest level of corruption among politicians and civil servants. Of 19 subindices, the country got its worst score of 9.82 in system effectiveness "in prosecuting and punishing individuals for corruption," and its best score of 5.75 in ease in building "an internal culture" in organizations to ensure anti-corruption standards are met. The consulting firm said corruption in the country is "not any worse today than it was last year at this time," tracing the lower score to the election season. "The Philippines is in the midst of mudslinging season, when character assassination is even more common than usual," it said. "Bodies like the Catholic Church and volunteer election watchdog bodies will try to mobilize the masses to fight corruption when they encounter it, but there is no reason to expect them to be any more successful than they were in previous elections," it added. Commenting on the survey results, Makati Business Club Executive Director Alberto A. Lim said in a phone interview on Tuesday: "It’s not good news. We have been seeing this continuing deterioration and it’s even worse because we are in an election period. We can expect more [reports on] incidence of corruption before the new order comes." Vincent T. Lazatin, executive director of the Transparency and Accountability Network, said the survey results were not surprising, blaming the government for its poor response to the problem. "Rather than answer hard-hitting questions and allegations of corruption, government officials have taken a ‘take me to the court’ attitude, knowing fully well the weaknesses, inefficiency and sluggishness of the justice system. They have nothing to show that they have made significant inroads against corruption. The low ranking is well-deserved," Lazatin said via text. For his part, Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Gary B. Olivar admitted that "corruption is a continuing challenge and requires deep changes in our political and civic culture, as well as [in] our governance process and institutions." The consulting firm’s poll, conducted from December to February, involved 2,174 mid-level and senior Asian and expatriate business executives working in 16 economies, while the survey last year involved 1,700 such respondents in the same countries and territories. Indonesia remained the most corrupt in the survey this year, with a score of 9.27 from 8.32 in 2009. It was followed by Cambodia with 9.10 from 7.25, and Vietnam with 8.07 (from 7.11). Singapore remained the least corrupt with a score of 1.42 from 1.07, followed by Australia with 2.28 from 2.4, and Hong Kong with 2.67 from 1.89. Also ranked better than the Philippines this year were the United States with 3.42 from 2.89; Japan with 3.49 from 3.99; Macau, 4.96 from 5.84; South Korea, 5.98 from 4.64; Taiwan, 6.28 from 6.47; Malaysia, 6.47 from 6.70; China, 6.52 from 6.16; India, which was deemed the fourth most corrupt last year, with 7.18 from 7.21; and Thailand, seen as second most corrupt in 2009, with 7.6 from 7.63. — Gerard S. dela Peña, BusinessWorld with AFP