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

MANILA, Philippines – 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. – With Evelyn Macairan