No cause for rejoicing

It's good to know that businessmen perceive the Philippines to be one of the least corrupt countries in the region. The other day, Malacañang announced that in a February poll taken by the Singapore-based Political and Economic Risk Consultancy, 600 businessmen who were asked to rate seven Asian countries ranked the Philippines second only to Singapore in terms of transparency, and third after Singapore and Japan in terms of honesty.

The PERC findings, however, should not make the government smug. The Philippines was compared with six other countries: Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Of these, only Singapore is known worldwide for its highly efficient and honest bureaucracy. Even Japan, the region's industrial leader, is constantly mired in corruption scandals in the top echelons of government. Of the seven countries in the poll, several -- including the Philippines -- con-sistently rank among the most corrupt in international studies on graft and corruption. Analysts agree that corruption was one of the main causes of Asia's economic crisis.

Red tape, corruption and inef-ficiency have long plagued the Philippine bureaucracy. Filipinos have gotten used to the idea that government operations, including the wheels of justice, are oiled with grease money. Several adminis-trations have vowed to catch the "big fish" and stamp out corruption, with middling results.

In this administration, the problem is compounded by public perceptions that people close to those in power are themselves involved in large-scale corruption. The disaster in the stock market is a crisis in credibility, fueled by perceptions that President Estrada himself cannot guarantee a level playing field for investors. The President has dared his critics to name names and has often blamed the media for playing up negative news. Apart from blaming his critics, however, the President has promised to intensify his campaign against graft. Yesterday, the President said he wanted the Philippines to emerge as the region's least corrupt. When this happens, then it's time for public rejoicing.