1 in 10 Pinoy families gave gifts in gov’t deals – survey

MANILA, Philippines - One in every 10 families in the country has given money or a gift to a government official in order to secure permits or avail themselves of services, the National Statistics Office (NSO) said.

The statistics agency’s 2010 Annual Poverty Indicators Survey released on Friday showed 41.3 percent of families all over the country had at least one member who purposely saw a government official or personnel or visited a government office to secure a permit or license, pay taxes, avail himself of social services or seek
assistance from the police or court.

“Of those who saw a government official or personnel or went to a government office for the cited reasons, about 9 percent gave money or gift or favor or anything of value to facilitate or avoid getting problems with their transaction,” the NSO said.

The survey showed that 75 percent of families with at least one member who gave money, gift or favor to a government official or personnel had done so voluntarily.

The remaining 25 percent, meanwhile, were asked by the government official or personnel to give the money or gift.

The survey also revealed that less than one percent of those who had been asked to give money or gift, reported the incident to anyone in authority.

The survey classified families according to their per capita income.

Families that fall at the bottom 30 percent per capita income stratum were considered poor, while those at the upper 70 percent were non-poor.

The survey showed that 10 percent of non-poor families offered an incentive to facilitate their transactions with a government office, compared to seven percent of poor families.

At least 32 percent of poor families that offered money or gift to facilitate their transactions with the government had done so involuntarily, compared to 24 percent among non-poor families.

The highest incidence of giving money or gift to government officials was seen in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao at 42 percent.