Ombudsman says survey ranking RP as 3rd most corrupt ‘unfair’

Newly installed Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez yesterday branded as "unfair" a survey of the Political and Economic Risk Consultancy Ltd. (PERC) ranking the Philippines third among the most corrupt countries in Asia.

In a radio interview, Gutierrez pointed out there was no Filipino respondent in the survey conducted among executives doing business in the region.

She lamented that the poll gave the Philippines no credit for trying to address the corruption problem.

Gutierrez said she learned during a recent conference with Transparency International that at least 100 respondents had been given the questionnaire but only 96 answered, and not one respondent was a Filipino.

"Masyado pong unfair ’yan (survey) dahil ang sinasabi sa report na yan ang mga (The survey is too unfair because the report says) businessmen respondents see little to no improvement in the problem of corruption in the Philippines," Gutierrez said in the radio program of Vice President Noli de Castro "Para Sa’yo… Bayan."

Citing a Social Weather Station (SWS) survey from 2004, Gutierrez noted there was actually a decrease in the number of bribe-soliciting officials and government employees.

The SWS enterprise poll showed a steady decline in the incidents of bribe offers from businessmen in the payment of their taxes from 2002.

In the payment of income taxes, the survey indicated that bribery incidents had decreased from a high of 52 percent in 2000 to 39 percent in 2004.

Incidents of bribery in securing national permits and licenses also dropped from 42 percent to 28 percent.

There was also a decline in bribery incidents in securing local government permits and licenses from 55 percent to 41 percent.

In supplying government with goods and services, there was also a fall in incidents of bribery from 18 percent to 15 percent.

The government is also targeting the implementation of electronics procurement system in government offices by February next year. Electronics bidding process in government is being implemented.

The Philippines ranked behind Indonesia and Vietnam in the survey of the Hong Kong-based PERC, saying corruption is the major obstacle to investment and business growth in Asia’s developing economies.

In contrast, Hong Kong and Singapore — two of the most developed Asian economies — were rated as the places where graft is most under control, the survey results released last Monday said.

Singapore topped the survey of 96 leading foreign executives based in the region with a score of 0.89 where the best grade is zero and the worst is 10.

Arch economic rival Hong Kong was second at 1.22 while Indonesia was the worst with a score of 9.44, PERC said in its survey of 12 regional economies.

Japan was third, followed by South Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand, China, India, the Philippines and Vietnam.

Reacting to the survey, Malacañang earlier said the government was not in denial regarding the problem of corruption.

However, the Palace called on the business community and all sectors of society not to imbibe the culture of bribery in the country. — Pia Lee-Brago