MANILA – Seventy-seven percent of the 90 million Filipinos believe that the anti-corruption campaign launched by the Arroyo administration is not effective because it is not making any major headway in stamping out the problem, according to a global public opinion report.
In a survey, the Transparency International’s (TI) 2009 Global Corruption Barometer disclosed that only 21 percent of the Filipinos believe that the government actions against graft are effective, with two percent saying “neither.”
The Global Corruption Barometer, TI explained, is a public opinion survey with more than 73,000 respondents drawn from 69 countries and territories around the world.
Based on the survey, the Philippines landed second worst in terms of how effectively Filipinos believe their government is fighting corruption in Asia and the Pacific.
The worst, it said, is South Korea where 81 percent of the respondents said that the government has been ineffective in battling graft. Only 16 percent said otherwise while three percent said “neither.”
After the Philippines comes Japan with 68 percent saying their government’s actions against corruption are ineffective, TI added.
It said Malaysia comes next with 67 percent, followed by Thailand, 65 percent; Pakistan, 51 percent; India, 45 percent; Cambodia, 28 percent; Indonesia, 19 percent; Brunei, 17 percent; and Hong Kong, 12 percent.
In particular, TI said that perception of government effectiveness in stamping out corruption appears to have decreased in Bosnia, Herzegovina, Greece, Malaysia, Philippines, Panama, Senegal, Spain, Thailand, Turkey and Venezuela.
On the other hand, the perception to government effectiveness on the same issue appears to have increased in Armenia, Cambodia, Colombia, Denmark, Finland, Georgia, India, Indonesia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Norway, TI reported.
Aside from people’s perception on how their governments are fighting graft, TI said its survey also looked into the issue of the general perceptions of corruption in the key sectors.
Asked which of the six given sectors they perceive to be the most corrupt, 29 percent of the respondents from the 69 countries said political parties while 26 percent pointed to public officials and civil servants.
TI also reported that 16 percent said the parliament or the legislature is the most corrupt, 14 percent said the private or business sector, nine percent pointed to the judiciary and six percent to media.
However, the Philippine Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez reacted sharply to the TI findings and described it as inaccurate.
Ironically, Gutierrez is facing impeachment proceedings in the House of Representatives for allegedly sitting on graft and corruption cases filed before her office against influential individuals and “cronies” identified with the Arroyo administration.
Gutierrez said the findings ran contrary to the 2009 corruption report of the Singapore-based Political and Economic Risk Consultancy (Perc) which conducted a survey of foreign investors and traders doing business in the region.
In the Perc report, Gutierrez said the country’s rating (0 to 10 as worst) improved from 9 in 2008 to 7 in 2009.
Gutierrez pointed out that Perc’s 4 to 7 rating indicates a “middle level of corruption” while a grade greater than 7 means a “serious corruption exists.”
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