‘Next president should restore good governance’

MANILA, Philippines — The next president who will be given the mandate on May 9 to govern the country should get the Philippines back on the path of good governance and the implementation of anti-corruption curbs, according to the think tank Stratbase-Albert del Rosario Institute (Stratbase-ADRI).

This effort, Stratbase-ADRI explained, could be guided by measures and definite composite indicators, not mere rhetoric, and Filipinos need to elect candidates who actively pursue reforms and build strong institutions so that the country can recover and eventually thrive in a post-pandemic world.

In the special study titled “Governance agenda for development in a post-COVID-19 Philippines” presented by Stratbase-ADRI trustee and program convenor Dr. Francisco Magno, the Philippines’ dismal performance – 53rd out of 53 middle-income economies – in Bloomberg’s COVID-19 Resilience Ranking for September 2021 was cited as an indicator of the country’s poor performance during the still ongoing pandemic.

“Corruption is not just a matter of having corrupt individuals. We have to consider the presence of corrupt systems,” Magno said during the online launch of the study.

“Corruption prevention strategies should reduce monopolistic power, limit and clarify discretion, and promote accountability in governments. Corruption could be countered by converting it to a high-risk activity,” he added.

The resulting analysis points to democratic backsliding and weak governance as the main contributory factors to the country’s poor pandemic performance, according to Magno.

He noted that there are six Worldwide Governance Indicators, and the Philippines fares unevenly compared with its neighbors in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region in each of these respects.

“The WGI should guide the candidates vying for the presidency in developing a campaign platform that identify collective action mechanisms that promote improvements in its composite indicators,” the Stratbase-ADRI official said.

Voice and accountability pertain to perceptions of the extent to which a country’s citizens are able to participate in selecting their government as well as freedom of expression, association and the press.

Among 10 Southeast Asian countries, the Philippines is second to Indonesia, primarily because of its being one of the eight founding countries of the Open Government Partnership in 2011.

In terms of political stability and absence of violence/terrorism, which captures perceptions of the likelihood of political instability or politically motivated violence, the Philippine is in ninth place, just ahead of Myanmar.

The Philippines is also in the lower rung of the ASEAN in terms of government effectiveness, which refers to expediting government transactions.

In regulatory quality, which is the perception of the ability of the government to formulate and implement sound policies that permit and promote private sector development, the country is in the middle of the pack, according to Magno.

“In observance of the rule of law, we are on seventh place, with our percentile performance on a downward spiral since 2016,” he said.

Finally, in the control of corruption, which captures perceptions of the extent to which public power is exercised for private gain, including petty and grand forms of corruption as well as capture of the state by elites and private interests, the Philippines is in the bottom half of 10 ASEAN countries.

“The pursuit of reforms and innovation is anchored on building strong institutions for citizen deliberation, participation, and oversight in the exercise of authority and the disbursement of public resources,” Magno said.

He emphasized that government effectiveness could be improved through the passage of an e-government act that would enable interoperability of data and processes to foster efficiency in the delivery of services. – Pia Lee-Brago