SWS: 'Sincerity' of Congress, Customs in fighting corruption drops

MANILA, Philippines - The net sincerity ratings in fighting corruption of 10 government institutions including both chambers of Congress and the Bureau of Customs (BOC) declined in 2013, a new survey of the Social Weather Stations (SWS) revealed on Wednesday.

Results of the latest SWS Survey of Enterprises on Corruption show that the Senate has the biggest downgrade in net sincerity ratings, from a "Good" +36 in 2012 to a "Neutral" -8 last year. On the other hand, the rating of the House of Representatives fell from a "Neutral" -6 in 2012 to a "Poor" -28 in 2013.

The BOC, meanwhile, is the sole agency with a "Very Bad" net sincerity rating after its "Bad" score of -46 in 2012 further decreased to -63.

The new SWS survey polled executives of 951 companies nationwide who rated a total of 24 institutions for sincerity in fighting corruption.

The other government agencies that suffered a decrease in their ratings were the Department of Education (Good +49), the Office of the Ombudsman (Moderate +23), the Department of Interior and Local Government (Moderate +20), the Department of Budget and Management (Neutral +9), the Department of Transportation and Communication (Moderate +8), trial courts (Neutral +9) and the Land Transportation Office (Bad -32).

Five government institutions obtained upgrades in their scores: the Supreme Court (Good +36), Commission on Elections (Neutral +7), the Social Security System (Very Good +52), the Department of Justice (Good +35) and the Commission on Audit (Moderate +22).

Nine agencies saw no change in their ratings: the Office of the President (Excellent +77), the Department of Health (Very Good +53), Department of Trade and Industry (Very Good +58), city governments (Moderate +21), Sandiganbayan (Moderate +15), Department of Environment and Natural Resources (Neutral -4), Department of Public Works and Highways (Poor -22) and the Philippine National Police (Poor -24).

The rating of the Office of the President remains "Excellent" although it dipped from +80 in 2012 to +77 in 2013.

The ratings of Congress and the BOC declined after facing allegations of corruption last year. In the Senate and in the House, several lawmakers and their staff were accused of being involved in the P10-billion pork barrel scam, which supposedly diverted the legislators' Priority Development Assistance Funds to fake non-government organizations.

In his State of the Nation Address last year, President Benigno Aquino III himself lambasted the BOC for the alleged corruption among officials who have failed to stop smuggling. Customs chair Rufino Biazon immediately offered to resign, which Aquino declined. Before 2013 ended, however, Biazon finally stepped down after he was also charged in connection with the pork barrel scam.

The latest SWS survey was conducted from July 31 to November 29. Its results also showed that the number of Filipinos who think that the administration's steps to eradicate corruption are "somewhat/very effective" fell slightly to 73 percent in 2013 from 78 percent in 2012.

Those saying that government "often/almost always" punishes corrupt government officials fell to 20 percent in 2013 from 27 percent in 2012.