Palace acknowledges corruption, says steps being taken

Malacañang admitted yesterday that a "culture of corruption" exists in the country but that it has taken concrete steps to address the problem.

"We are not denying the culture of corruption that has crept into several areas of Philippine society and politics over many decades, but this government has undertaken a strong and steady effort to curb graft through criminal justice, administrative controls and procedural reforms," Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye said.

Bunye was reacting to the latest survey conducted by the Hong Kong-based Political and Economic Risk Consultancy, which showed the Philippines as the most corrupt economy in Asia.

He pointed out that the anti-corruption measures are focused on graft-prone revenue offices, local government units that used to be out of the anti-corruption radar, and agencies that are on the frontline of day-to-day public services.

He said significant progress was made by graft-prone agencies whose performances have improved over the past few years. He did not name these agencies but he was apparently referring to the Bureau of Customs and the Bureau of Internal Revenue.

President Arroyo said outdated data and newspaper reports that painted a negative picture of the country might have influenced survey respondents.

Bunye argued that the unflattering perception would change only if the more recent achievements of the administration were recognized.

"Results have been gained and reforms are being made although we realize that the Philippines has to deal with negative perceptions that are still rooted in the past," Bunye said.

"The records of the Sandiganbayan, the Ombudsman and the Presidential Anti-Graft Commission are there for all to see and they certainly reflect an earnest effort by a government out to make a deep dent on corruption to drive greater confidence in our political and economic stability," he added.

Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez said the PERC survey failed to factor in inroads in the fight against corruption. She said that as a result of reforms being implemented in her office, Sandiganbayan conviction rate rose to 77 percent between January and March 2007 alone, from 33 percent in 2005.

The convicted officials include four municipal mayors, a metropolitan trial court judge, and a president of a state university.

Gutierrez also reiterated that the Philippines has been "delisted" from the Financial Action Task Force’s list of non-cooperative countries in the campaign against money laundering and terrorist financing.

For his part, Tony Kwok-Manwai, the country’s chief anti-corruption adviser, warned the public against using surveys as indicator of the country’s performance.

"They are merely based on perception and should not influence us for they always have a large margin of error and they contradict each other," Kwok was quoted as saying in the Ombudsman statement. He said there is no scientific method to measure corruption.

Kwok cited the significant increase in revenue collection as proof that the government is addressing corruption.

PAGC chairman Constancia de Guzman said the slow progress of graft and corruption cases in the judiciary, particularly the high profile ones including the plunder case against former President Joseph Estrada, has contributed to the negative perception.

De Guzman explained that the international community tends to expect quick results in the high-profile cases and interpret the lengthy process in the courts as reluctance to take sincere and firm action.

Survey versus survey

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita moved to debunk the PERC survey with other surveys.

At a press briefing yesterday, Ermita presented the Social Weather Stations’ survey on corruption and the 2006 Global Integrity Index, which both take a moderate view of corruption in the country.

Ermita stressed the PERC survey result was only a perception and not the reality.

In the SWS survey, Ermita said the percentage of companies that were asked to pay bribes for certain transactions significantly went down from 55 percent in 2000 to 36 percent in 2005.

The Global Integrity Index, on the other hand, classified Philippine corruption as moderate compared with 40 other countries.

Global Integrity is an international non-profit organization that tracks governance and corruption trends around the world.

Ermita also noted that in 2006, a total of 57 officials were dismissed, 48 cases were approved for filing with the Sandiganbayan and 131 before the lower courts.

Sandiganbayan records also showed that of the 31,538 cases filed since February 1979, more that 29,000 have already been resolved.

Ermita said one of the anti-corruption initiatives of the government is the doubling of the budget of the Office of the Ombudsman to P960 million.

A P2-billion anti-graft fund has also been established to intensify the drive against tax cheats and smugglers as well as finance the hiring of more investigators for the Ombudsman, Ermita said.

Trade Secretary Peter Favila said he was surprised by the PERC findings, adding that the survey respondents disregarded the various initiatives undertaken by the government to help curb corruption. "Corruption is being dealt with. We are surprised we rated poorly and to have plummeted to the bottom of the PERC survey," Favila said.

"This is precisely the reason why the President issued Executive Order 558 creating the Anti-Red Tape Task Force to curb corruption brought about by long tedious process and lack of transparency in dealing with frontline agencies," Favila added.

He said the government has in fact reduced face-to-face transactions through more online applications like e-payment.

"Hopefully, our initiatives will change the mood of businessmen from negative to positive. We expect better results next grading period so that Philippines will get out from the bottom of the list," Favila said.

Administration officials also said even the local business community refuted the PERC survey result.

"Corruption is endemic around Asia," Bankers Association of the Philippines executive director Leonilo Coronel said.

Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry chairman Donald Dee and Semiconductors and Electronics Industry of the Philippines Inc. Executive Director Ernie Santiago also contested the PERC survey results.

Not surprised

Detained former President Joseph Estrada said he was not surprised by the PERC survey results but said Malacañang should not use him as a scapegoat.

"Why should President Estrada’s name be dragged into this latest PERC survey when the Philippines’ ranking went from bad to worst this year, when it went from second last year to the most corrupt this year?’’ Estrada spokesman Rufus Rodriguez said.

"The truth is, the impression of businessman worldwide is that the Arroyo administration is tolerating and coddling the corruptors and thieves in the government and the private sector because no one has been prosecuted on established glaring incidents of corruption since Mrs. Arroyo took office in 2001," Rodriguez said.

Genuine Opposition candidates, campaigning in Bulacan, said the PERC survey should remind the Arroyo administration of its failure or unwillingness to pin down corrupt officials and allies.

"That’s bad for our investors, that’s bad for public international perception and it’s the responsibility not only of the government but of the media, of us in politics, even in the opposition. It’s a very bad reputation," GO senatorial candidate Loren Legarda said.

"It’s ominous. But more than the timing, it’s the message. The message is very clear – we must get our act together to get ourselves out of this rut we are in," Legarda said.

Re-electionist Sen. Manny Villar said the PERC survey should serve as a wake-up call.

"It is painful to accept but we should face reality. It should serve as a wake-up call for us. We cannot change the perception of the businessmen who were polled in the survey," Villar, an adopted GO candidate, said.

"Instead of dwelling over the negative result of the survey, we should just work together in order to change the image and reputation of our country,’’ he added.

Re-electionist Sen. Panfilo Lacson said the PERC report should give Filipinos more reason to vote for GO candidates.

In a statement, GO candidate Sorsogon Rep. Francis "Chiz" Escudero said the PERC survey merely confirmed what the IMF-World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, US Agency for International Development, and other institutions have been saying ever since. He said corruption is rooted in poverty.

"The high incidence of poverty is an indication of corruption," Escudero explained. "And the people instinctively realize it without being told, since it is they who feel the effects of corruption most, being its direct victims."

Independent senatorial candidate Francis Pangilinan urged the Sandiganbayan to improve conviction rates to help the country shed its corrupt image.

Another GO candidate, former senator John Osmeña, said the PERC report was "embarrassing" as he promised to strengthen the Senate Blue Ribbon committee if elected.

"I would push for a vigorous action on the part of the Blue Ribbon committee. The Blue Ribbon committee is the graft-busting committee of the Senate. It has a very, very rich and colorful tradition in graft-busting until lately," Osmeña said.

PERC gave the Philippines a grade of 9.4 out of a possible 10 in the corruption index. The group arrived at the rating after polling 1,476 expatriate business executives in 13 countries and territories in the region.

"There must be something the administration has done or has failed to do to earn an almost perfect score," Escudero said. – With Sandy Araneta, and Christina Mendez