EDITORIAL - Worsening corruption

Some foreign governments may be fooled by the prosecution of small fry, but there are those who believe the Philippine government is not doing enough to curb corruption. In the 2008 Global Corruption Report released by Transparency International, the Philippines’ rating among 180 countries dropped 10 places from the previous year, tying for 141st place with Cameroon, Iran and Yemen. The top TI official in the Philippines said the failure to resolve major corruption cases such as the aborted broadband deal with ZTE Corp. might have accounted for the drop.

Last year the country tied for 131st place with Burundi, Honduras, Iran, Libya, Nepal and Yemen. In Asia, the Philippines rated higher than Indonesia, which was at 143rd place. In the 2008 Corruption Perception Index, Indonesia has shot up to 126th place, tying in its score with Honduras, Ethiopia, Uganda, Guyana, Libya, Eritrea and Mozambique. Nepal is higher up, tied for 121st place with Vietnam, Togo, Nigeria, and Sao Tome and Principe. Only Burundi fared worse, plunging to 158th place.

In Asia, Singapore ranked second in transparency, behind Denmark, Sweden and New Zealand which shared the same top score of 9.3 out of 10. Hong Kong ranked 12th, Japan 18th, Taiwan 39th, South Korea 40th, Macau 43rd, Bhutan 45th, Malaysia 47th, China 72nd, Thailand 80th, India 85th, Sri Lanka 92nd, Mongolia 102nd, and Pakistan 134th. The Philippines was ahead only of Timor-Leste, Bangladesh, Laos, Cambodia and the region’s basket case, Myanmar, which ranked second to the last, Somalia.

It was the worst rating yet for the Philippines since Transparency International launched the Global Corruption Index in 1995 to measure national resolve to fight corruption. Why is this fight so important? This is more than just a ratings game. In its latest report, TI said unchecked corruption adds $50 billion to the cost of achieving the Millennium Development Goals on water and sanitation alone. TI also said evidence suggested that an increase of even one point on the 10-point scale increased capital inflows by 0.5 percent of a country’s gross domestic product and average income by as much as four percent.

The consequences of corruption on a nation are known. But as long as corruption benefits the nation’s tiny ruling elite, the battle against this scourge will achieve only small, token victories.