‘Significant decliner’ Philippine ranks 116th in global corruption index

MANILA, Philippines — While it improved a notch, the Philippines has retained its score and remains among the “significant decliners” among Asia-Pacific countries included in the latest Corruption Perception Index (CPI) of Berlin-based Transparency International.

The 2022 CPI released yesterday showed that the Philippines scored 33 out of 100, below the global average of 43.

It ranked 116th out of 180, up from 117 in 2021.

The CPI ranks countries and territories by their perceived levels of public sector corruption, with 0 being “highly corrupt” and 100 being “very clean.”

Like last year, the Philippines was again included in the list of countries identified as “significant decliners” in Asia-Pacific, with its score dropping five points from 38 – the country’s highest – in 2014, when it ranked 85th out of 175.

Since then, its ranking slipped to 95th in 2015 (with a score of 35), 101st in 2016 (35) and 111th in 2017 (34). It improved to 99th in 2018 (36) then dropped again to 113th in 2019 (34), 115th (34) in 2020 and 117th in 2021 (33).

Other Asia-Pacific countries included in the latest report’s “significant decliners” list are Malaysia (47, down six points since 2019), Pakistan (27, down six points since 2018), Australia (75, down four points since 2016), Mongolia (33, down four points since 2018) and Sri Lanka (36, down four points since 2012).

“In recent years, democracy has been declining in the region, including in some of the most populous countries in the world, such as India (40), the Philippines (33) and Bangladesh (25),” read the report.

“Regimes are consolidating power by curtailing space for dissent with more draconian laws that restrict free speech or criticisms of the government – and face no accountability for jailing those who allegedly defy them,” it added.

Denmark scored the highest with 90, followed by Finland and New Zealand with 87, Norway with 84, Singapore and Sweden with 83, Switzerland with 82, Netherlands with 80, Germany with 79 and Ireland and Luxembourg with 70.

On the bottom were Somalia with a score of 12, Syria and South Sudan with 13, Venezuela with 14, Yemen with 16; Libya, North Korea, Haiti, Equatorial Guinea and Burundi with 17 and Turkmenistan, Nicaragua, Comoros and Chad with 19.

Transparency International noted that except Denmark and Ireland, all the other countries in the top 10 have reported declines in their scores.

“Global peace has been deteriorating for 15 years. Corruption has been both a key cause and result of this. Corruption undermines governments’ ability to protect people and erodes public trust, provoking more and harder to control security threats. On the other hand, conflict creates opportunities for corruption and subverts governments’ efforts to stop it,” read the report.

“Even countries with high CPI scores play a role in the threats that corruption poses to global security. For decades, they have welcomed dirty money from abroad, allowing kleptocrats to increase their wealth, power and destructive geopolitical ambitions,” it added.

According to the report, more than two-thirds of countries score below 50, while 26 countries have fallen to their lowest scores. Some 155 countries have made no significant progress against corruption or have declined since 2012.

“Leaders can fight corruption and promote peace all at once. Governments must open up space to include the public in decision-making – from activists and business owners to marginalized communities and young people,” said Transparency International chief executive officer Daniel Eriksson.

“In democratic societies, the people can raise their voices to help root out corruption and demand a safer world for us all,” he added.