RP tops in petty bribery

A study by Transparency International has showed that the Philippines is one of the top 10 countries with the highest level of petty bribery, with 30 percent of respondents reporting paying bribes in these countries.

Included in the top 10 are Albania, Cambodia, Cameroon, Macedonia, Kosovo, Nigeria, Pakistan, Romania and Senegal.

By region, Africa experiences the most demands for bribes, the study found.

The study released yesterday also showed that one in every four people has been asked to pay a bribe to the police, and political parties and parliaments are the most tainted by corruption.

The poor are targeted for bribes in both developed and developing countries, according to the watchdog’s  Global Corruption Barometer 2007.

The study “has made it clear that too often, people must part with their hard-earned money to pay for services that should be free,” said Transparency International chair Huguette Labelle.

“And they do not see enough commitment when they look to their governments and leaders,” Labelle said. 

The poor are hit hardest by petty bribery when they seek services compared to those from a high-income bracket.

Transparency International also said that telephone and gas providers were the least likely to demand bribes, while the police were the worst offenders.

Twenty-five percent of respondents who came into contact with the police were asked to pay a bribe and one in every six reported having ended up paying a bribe.

It was also found that judges in many countries are happy to take a bribe in return for dismissing a case or influencing a verdict in a court case.

In Pakistan, for example, 96 percent of those questioned reported corrupt practices in courts.

“The police and the judiciary in many countries around the world are part of a cycle of corruption, demanding bribes from citizens,” Transparency International’s managing director  Cobus de Swardt said in a statement.

“This troubling finding means that corruption is interfering with the basic right to equal treatment before the law.”

Labelle, however, said that Transparency had noticed some cause for hope.

“We are heartened that the public is increasingly demanding the accountability of the very institutions that most affect their lives, as this is a powerful driver of change,” she said.

Transparency polled more than 63,000 people in 60 countries between June and September 2007.