Philippines' corruption rating under Duterte holds at same level: bad
Despite President Rodrigo Duterte's campaign boast that he would eliminate corruption in the Philippines, the country's rating in Transparency International's 2020 Corruption Perception Index remained at the same level as last year and one notch lower than when he began his presidency in 2016.
By most accounts, corruption has worsened under Duterte and, by his own admission, the coronavirus pandemic and the lockdown to stem its spread have become lucrative sources of graft.
The index, which was released on Thursday by the Berlin-based NGO, gave the Philippines a rating of 34 for 2020, the same score it received last year and a decrease from the 35 in 2016, which was Duterte's first year in office. The Philippines' score was also 34 in 2017 but improved to 36 in 2018. The Philippines shared its 34 score with Moldova, and they were both tied for 115th place out of the 180 countries and territories surveyed.
Get the latest insights and analysis from our Global Impact newsletter on the big stories originating in China.
According to TI, the ratings run from zero, or "highly corrupt" - to 100, or "very clean". The ratings were derived using expert assessments and surveys of business executives.
Delia Ferreira Rubio, the chairwoman of Transparency International, sounded the alarm about rising levels of coronavirus-related graft in the report, which scored the countries and territories in their fight against state corruption, such as when government agencies receive kickbacks in procuring vaccines.
"Covid-19 is not just a health and economic crisis," she warned. "It's a corruption crisis. And one that we're currently failing to manage."
TI warned that corruption, which has worsened the past few years - based on the countries' overall average score - has affected the countries' responses to the coronavirus pandemic. The organisation previously stated that corruption "deprives the global health sector of US$500 billion every year".
The report noted that "with a score of 34, efforts to control corruption in the Philippines appear mostly stagnant since 2012. The government's response to Covid-19 has been characterised by abusive enforcement, and major violations of human rights and media freedom".
During his run for the presidency in 2016, Duterte stated, "I will not promise you heaven but I will try to stop corruption", and vowed to put an end to corruption within six months. But by September, he was offering to resign over corruption, saying there was "no way" to stop it.
His tenure has been marked by a series of corruption scandals that have cost the country billions of pesos. The scandals have involved many of his appointees, including his justice secretary.
A senate hearing discovered in 2019 that an elite group of anti-drugs policemen nicknamed "ninja cops" had actually gone into drug dealing themselves, earning billions of pesos. The country's "Magnetic lifters" scandal in 2018 saw billions of pesos worth of drugs enter a Manila port packed in industrial equipment, waved through with the connivance of police and customs officials.
Another Senate investigation in 2020 uncovered the "pastillas" scheme - where cash pay-offs worth almost US$20 million were tightly rolled up in white sheets of paper in the same manner as the sweet confectionery - and handed to immigration officials at the airport in exchange for allowing thousands of mainland Chinese to enter. The scam started in 2017 and was still going strong during the coronavirus lockdown.
A witness testifying before the Senate claimed former justice secretary Vitaliano Aguirre, a former schoolmate of Duterte, was the main figure behind the racket, which Aguirre denied.
Other Senate investigations, also conducted last year, have forced the government to lower the negotiated prices for the purchase of personal protective equipment and for coronavirus testing; prompted the dismissal of top officers of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation for their involvement in "anomalous contracts"; and have probed possible kickbacks to government officials during the procurement of China-made vaccines.
Earl Parreno, who wrote a political biography of Duterte entitled Beyond Will & Power: Unearthing the roots of Duterte's psyche, told This Week in Asia that Duterte had made an effort to combat corruption when he first took office, but that he failed because Filipino syndicates "are too entrenched" within various government agencies.
Patients at a health centre in Manila await Covid-19 screening. Photo: Reuters
He said that even "the so-called strong people" in the military were not able to crack down on corruption within government agencies, adding that before the pandemic, suppliers bidding for government contracts had told him they were being forced to give payoffs.
"That's why prices of items get jacked up by three to four times compared to when the private sector buys the same items."
Overall, TI described the state of corruption worldwide as "grim", with two-thirds of countries and territories surveyed scoring below 50.
The highest-ranking countries, Denmark and New Zealand, each scored 88 out of 100, followed by Finland, Singapore, Sweden and Switzerland, which were all tied at 85.
At the bottom were South Sudan and Somalia at 12, Syria at 14, and Venezuela and Yemen at 15.
The report said Myanmar saw the greatest improvement, increasing 13 points from last year to score 28.
In the Asia-Pacific region, Hong Kong was the top scorer with 77, while Bangladesh emerged as "one of the worst performers" with a score of 26, owing to the fact that "the government invests little in health care while corruption flourishes", the report said.
India (40) and Indonesia (37) "experienced slow progress in anti-corruption efforts, with several government commitments to reform not yet materialised", TI said.
The average score in the Asia-Pacific was 45.
Among the world's biggest economies, Germany scored highest with 80, followed by the United Kingdom, at 77; Japan, 74, the United States, 67; and China, 42.
This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).
Copyright (c) 2021. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
