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 Español, 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.

Español 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.” (abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak)

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