Philippines Still Perceived as a Corrupt Country

Corruption Index, 2005-Image from NYtimes.com ( Index from 1 to 10)

Today's news from the Philippine Inquirer reported that the Philippines is still perceived as one of the most corrupt countries in the world. This news really saddened me. The survey was conducted by Transparency International (TI) . The Philippines was given a score of 34 on a scale of 1 to 100 with 100 being the least corrupt country.

The good news is that the Philippines scored better than the neighboring countries of Indonesia ( scored 32), Vietnam( scored 31) and Bangladesh scoring 26. The numbers are called Corruption Perception Index (CPI).

The top five countries perceived to be very clean were Denmark, Finland, New Zealand, Sweden and Singapore, while the five viewed as very corrupt were Somalia, North Korea, Afghanistan, Sudan and Myanmar.

One of the actions that has improved the Philippine image as a less corrupt country is the passage of the freedom of information bill according to the news report.. Other actions by the Aquino Administration that helped change the public perception were the impeachment trial, the declaration of the statements of assets, liabilities and net worth, the transparent process of replacing dismissed Chief Justice Renato Corona, and the general openness of the administration in its quest for a transparent government. .

Huguette Labelle, Chairperson of TI said that based on the 2012 CPI, corruption still continues to ravage many societies. According to him governments need to integrate anti-corruption actions into all public decision-making. Their priorities should include better rules on lobbying and political financing, making public spending and contracting more transparent, and making public bodies more accountable to people..

The news did not report the United States CPI score, but I have a feeling it is very close to 100, even though it did not make the top five least corrupt countries in the list above.

I hope that next year the Philippines will receive a higher score. As the saying goes, one can only hope for the best. Remember this is just a perception not the reality. In my mind the Philippines in reality has probably a score of 50 if not higher. What do you think? Comments?