Survey: 'Bribery, corruption thrives in private sector'

MANILA, Philippines — While fraudulent conduct in the country has been mostly associated with people in government, a new survey finds that bribery and corruption are also prevalent in Philippine businesses.

The 2018 EY Global Fraud Survey ranked the Philippines 17th among 53 economies with the highest perceived bribery and corruption practices in the private sector.

The survey was done between October 2017 and January 2018, which included 2,550 interviews in the local language with senior decision-makers in a sample of the largest companies in 55 countries and territories.

The report noted that more than half or 54 percent of the executives surveyed in the Philippines said bribery and corrupt practices happen widely in the business community.

“It is encouraging to note that 100 percent of Philippine respondents said that demonstrating integrity is important to their business, particularly in the area of customer perception and business performance. However, 26 percent of respondents said that they would consider paying cash to win business, which highlights the ‘integrity gap’ in some companies,” said Roderick Vega, leader of SGV/EY Philippines Fraud Investigation and Dispute Services.

Among Asian countries, the Philippines ranked second behind Malaysia (56 percent) in terms of having the highest prevalence of bribery and corrupt practices in business.

Globally, Brazil ranked first (96 percent), followed by Colombia (94 percent), Nigeria (90 percent), Kenya (88 percent) and Peru (82 percent).

Countries with the least occurrence of bribery and corruption in business are Germany and Switzerland (two percent), Sweden and Finland (four percent), and Taiwan, Netherlands, Denmark and Austria (six percent).

According to EY, a global organization which refers to one or more member firms of Ernst & Young Global Ltd., the difference in levels of corruption between countries remains significant, with 20 percent of respondents in developed markets indicating that bribery and corruption occur widely in business, compared with more than half of those in emerging markets.

“The lack of improvement in global levels of corruption over the last six years shows that unethical behavior in business remains a daunting challenge, despite intensified global enforcement,” said Andrew Gordon, EY Global Fraud Investigation and Dispute Services Leader.