EDITORIAL - Anti-Corruption Day

As the nation joins the world in observing International Anti-Corruption Day today, the daang matuwid administration may want to take note of the United Nations message to mark the event.

The UN, the World Bank and other organizations have come to regard corruption as one of the biggest hindrances to poverty alleviation, equitable growth and economic progress. The UN has also pointed out that economic development is often derailed because foreign direct investment and small businesses within a country “often find it impossible to overcome the ‘start-up costs’ required” that provide opportunities for corruption.

This is true in the Philippines, where the administration’s anti-corruption thrust is not registering in many government agencies. There is no political will to eliminate or at least reduce the thick layers of red tape, since every layer offers an opportunity for collecting “facilitation fees.” Across the country, the total fees for starting a small business could be equivalent to the seed capital. Combined with bureaucratic inefficiency and difficulties built into the process of obtaining the required permits seemingly from all government agencies, prospective entrepreneurs are likely to just give up and find jobs overseas.

President Aquino, who won on a platform of good governance, should do more in the second half of his term to implement institutional reforms that will survive his departure from office. Once people get used to better systems of dealing with the government, it will be difficult to revert to the old ways. Priority for these reforms can be given to all offices involved in collecting money from the public. It was done to some extent in the Land Transportation Office during the Arroyo administration. Simplifying procedures, identifying who’s responsible for every step, imposing deadlines and holding each individual responsible for any delay in the process should not be impossible to implement in other agencies.

This year’s theme for International Anti-Corruption Day is “zero corruption, 100 percent development.” For the matuwid na daan, that goal shouldn’t sound as ambitious as it seems.