Philippine corruption front page news

For those who did not have the chance nor time to read about this article that appeared in the front page of the April 26 issue of the International Herald Tribune Asia Pacific that was routed in the Internet, here are the other interesting portions of the said article written by Seth Mydans:

"Accusations of electoral corruption are behind a swelling drive to force President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to resign. Her predecessor, Joseph Estrada, was driven from office by a popular uprising that grew out of disclosures of presidential corruption. The two most recent military coup attempts have been motivated in large part by a perception of pervasive corruption in the government and the armed forces.

Because it involves some of the country's most powerful people, efforts to combat corruption have not gotten far. According to a presidential commission in 2003, only 6 percent of cases taken to a special anti-corruption court resulted in convictions.

"These are prominent and wealthy people, and they hire the best lawyers money can buy," said Simeon Marcelo, a former government ombudsman who worked to improve the conviction rate and who reported that statistic. He declined to comment on the role of corruption within the anti-corruption court itself.

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.

In January, Health Secretary Francisco Duque told Congress that millions of pesos had been lost in expired vaccines and medicines purchased in just one government hospital.

In February, the national Bureau of Food and Drugs reported that 8 percent of medicines bought from pharmacies in 1999 were counterfeit. According to the World Health Organization, 6 to 10 percent of all medications on the world market are counterfeit, with estimated sales of more than $35 billion a year.

One of the most widespread forms involves payoffs from drug companies to local officials who then pay them inflated prices for often substandard medicines. "It's the way of life of the politicians," said Dr. Merry Mia, 29, a general practitioner who has worked in both government and private clinics. As a result, she said, the prices often climb out of reach of poor patients.

An investigation by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism found that these kickbacks can now range from 10 percent to 70 percent of the contract price. Another common practice is the renting out of pharmaceutical diplomas, together with academic transcripts, to untrained people who want to open a drug store, several health workers said.

The devolution of services to local governments has added medical supplies to the repertoire of political manipulation. Not only do local officials hoard medications for distribution during election campaigns, health workers say, but they also sometimes withhold them from clinics in neighborhoods where the local vote goes against them.

As with other forms of patronage, local officials are now in a position to appoint unqualified friends or relatives to jobs in health care or to sign up "ghost doctors" and "ghost nurses" to draw government salaries for nonexistent employees. "My father is friends with the mayor," Mia said, "and he'll tell him, 'Pal, do you want a job without working?' In many health clinics there are only a few people working, but they declare a lot more."

Tan, the medical anthropologist, told of a hospital that did not have gowns to distribute to women in its maternity ward. "The funds have been depleted and there has been pilferage of gowns," he said. "The pilferage is amazing; it becomes a dog-eat-dog world. And for it to happen in a sector that is supposed to be nurturing and caring I think says a lot about where we are today."

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