Philippine corruption front page of International Herald Tribune

There is no escaping corruption in our country. Whether you are in the Philippines or abroad, news about it seem to follow Filipinos wherever they are.

Especially in this age of the Internet, it is so easy to access news about any part of the world or of our own country. Even if by choice, you have given up reading local news while abroad, the emails routed through the Internet reach you without fail.

Of course, one has a choice to read and open emails or delete or classify messages as spam. There are, however, news like this one about Philippine Corruption in the first page of the International Herald Tribune that are unavoidable and become must-read items.

Every Filipino is aware of corruption in our country. In fact, this particular international news article noted that Transparency International placed the Philippines in 2005 in 117th place out of 159 countries throughout the world. Those involved in corruption must be very happy about this news as this places our country well near the bottom in this global corruption list.

This time around, however, this particular news article that appeared on the front page of International Herald Tribune for Asia-Pacific had this interesting title: Corruption harmful to Philippines' Health.

Every Filipino knows that corruption is rampant. This particular article focuses on the corruption involving the purchase of vaccines, vitamins and painkillers by local officials which " they have hoarded for just this occasion (election campaigns) - to show their generosity to voters."

The following are lifted from that article, "they hold medical missions here and give things away," Tubal said. "Even health workers' allowances increase at election time. We get free meals. That's where the health budget goes, to elections. If there were no elections we'd get nothing."

Doctors say that some of these medications expire or lose their potency through lack of refrigeration as officials delay their release to clinics to achieve maximum political effect.

The use of medications as political pork is just one of many forms of corruption in medical care that a recent study by Transparency International, an independent agency that tracks corruption around the world, showed was directly harming the health of Filipinos.

One of the authors of the study, Omar Azfar, said the picture in the Philippines was not unusual for developing nations. In the study, released in February, Transparency International compared indicators of corruption and health in a controlled study of 80 communities around the country.

It found that for every 10 percent increase in corruption, immunization rates dropped as much as 20 percent, waiting time in public clinics increased as much as 30 percent and user satisfaction dropped 30 percent. It also found that children were one-fourth as likely to complete their courses of vaccination.

The UN Development Program estimated in 2004 that $1.8 billion a year, or about 13 percent of the government's annual budget, is lost to corruption.

The Philippines is trapped in a cycle of corruption that has its roots in a culture of mutual help and obligation, family loyalties and political patronage. Poverty, low pay and a breakdown in services have led to a free-for-all of payoffs and pilferage.

In a recent survey, according to Transparency International, 7 in 10 Filipinos said corruption had grown significantly worse over the past three years. In its report, Transparency International said corruption in the field of health care costs tens of billions of dollars a year around the world. According to one estimate, it said, annual earnings from the sale of counterfeit drugs alone was more than $30 billion.

The report on the Philippines was based on data first published in 2001 by Azfar and Tugrul Gurgur, who are based at the University of Maryland, College Park.

The report said the corruption can take place in procurement, recruitment, the theft of money and supplies, absenteeism, induced demand for unnecessary goods and services and the solicitation of bribes for services.

In the Philippines, corruption eviscerates a health care system that is already severely under-financed, experts say. One of the most widespread forms involves payoffs from drug companies to local officials who then pay them inflated prices for often substandard medicines. In a country that lightens its burdens with wordplay, these payoffs are known as incentives, rebates, internal arrangements, standard operating procedures and love gifts.

Those interested in reading the original article can go to http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/04/25news/philcorrupt.php.