It’s based on perceptions, and those on the Philippines aren’t going to improve dramatically overnight following a change of administration. In the 2010 Corruption Perceptions Index prepared by Transparency International, the Philippines registered a slight improvement, from 139th place last year to 134th among 178 countries.
The rank can be puzzling to those who take the time to look at how other countries fared. The Philippines shared 134th place with Africa’s current basket case, Zimbabwe, as well as Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Honduras, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Togo and Ukraine. These countries were rated more corrupt than Belarus, Ecuador, Lebanon, Nicaragua, Syria, Timor-Leste and Uganda, which shared 127th place. Also rating better were those in 116th place: Ethiopia, Guyana, Mali, Mongolia, Mozambique, Tanzania and Vietnam.
At least two Philippine business groups commented that participants in the 13 surveys on which the corruption index was based must have been reading too many negative stories about the country, which was ranked way behind most others in Asia. Hong Kong ranked 13th, Japan 17th, Taiwan 33rd, Brunei 38th, South Korea 39th, Macau 46th, Malaysia 55th, China and Thailand (78th), India (81st) and Sri Lanka (91st). Indonesia shared 110th place with Kosovo, Benin, Bolivia, Gabon and the Solomon Islands.
There were few disputes over those perceived to have the cleanest governments. Denmark, Switzerland and Singapore shared first place with a score of 9.3. There were also few debates over the countries that fared worst: Somalia, Afghanistan, Myanmar and Iraq.
Transparency and good governance have long been linked to success in poverty alleviation and overall national progress. In recent years, Transparency International has also linked corruption to slow progress or failure in addressing the world’s most pressing problems, including climate change and instability in financial markets.
It is no coincidence that countries and economies that were ranked at the top of the index also happen to be among the world’s most prosperous. This is worth bearing in mind as certain quarters consider perceptions of the corruption problem in the Philippines to be overly negative. President Aquino, who was elected on an anti-corruption platform, has been telling the world that a new team is in charge in the Philippines and reforms should be expected. The latest Corruption Perceptions Index should prod him to speed up efforts to clean up government.