Ping hits Kwok on RP anti-graft drive

Opposition Sen. Panfilo Lacson contested yesterday the claim of Hong Kong’s former anti-corruption czar that corruption in the Philippines has diminished under the Arroyo administration.

"Now Malacañang has managed to accomplish the impossible. It just succeeded in corrupting the mind of Tony Kwok, once the head of the highly successful Independent Commission Against Corruption of Hong Kong," Lacson said in a statement issued to the media.

"I urge Mr. Kwok to get out of the Palace once in a while to see for himself the falsity of his statement against media reporting on corruption that has become ubiquitous under the GMA administration," Lacson said.

Kwok, a consultant of the Office of the Ombudsman under the government’s anti-corruption campaign, said the Arroyo administration is actually making headway in the perennial fight against corruption and blamed the media for the country’s poor image.

"The media should play an active role in reporting these kinds of good things that the government has done in fighting corruption," Kwok said.

A Hong Kong native who spearheaded the former British crown colony’s drive against corruption for 27 years, Kwok said the recent surveys tagging the Philippines as one of the most corrupt countries in Asia were not based on scientific evidence.

Kwok, who joined the Office of the Ombudsman as its chief adviser in 2003, said the polls were the result of the perception of respondents, most of them foreigners.

Mrs. Arroyo recruited Kwok to show her determination in fighting corruption.

However, she is now deeply embroiled in the most serious political crisis ever to hound her administration. Mrs. Arroyo is fighting opposition allegations that she cheated her way to victory in last year’s presidential elections although she defeated an impeachment challenge in September.

The electoral fraud allegations were compounded by accusations that her husband, son and brother-in-law took bribes from illegal gambling barons, reminiscent of the corruption allegations against former President Joseph Estrada.

Estrada was ousted in 2001 by a popular uprising following allegations that he ran an illegal gambling protection racket during his short-lived presidency.

Various international agencies have expressed concern about massive corruption in the Philippines, which analysts say has discouraged foreign investors.

Some surveys portray the Philippines as the second most corrupt country in Asia next to Indonesia.

Independent estimates suggest at least a fifth of the government budget is lost through graft.