Survey: RP among most corrupt Asian economies

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines was judged to be among the most corrupt economies in Asia, according to a regional poll conducted by a Hong Kong-based group on 1,400 expatriate businessmen last January and February. GMA's 24 Oras reported that the annual survey of the Political and Economic Risk Consultancy (PERC) showed Singapore and Hong Kong retained their rankings as the cleanest economies in the region. Malacañang did not immediately issue a reaction to the PERC survey, the report said. The Philippines scored 9.0 out of the 10-point grading system used by PERC, which has zero as the best score and 10 the worst. PERC said corruption remains a problem in the region despite huge economic progress made over the years, with governments generally lacking the political will to tackle the issue. Thailand remained the second most corrupt economy after the Philippines with a score of 8.0 after the military, which seized power in a coup in 2006, was seen to have failed to address the problem. Indonesia ranked behind Thailand with a score of 7.98, while Malaysia scored 6.37 in the survey, worse than last year's grade of 6.25. - GMANews.TV