Ducky Paredes

Malaya (03.19.07)

“Considering the kind of numbers that we have been racking up, it really is not surprising that we are finally considered the most corrupt in Asia with a grade of 9.4 for 2007!”

That PERC Report

by Ducky Paredes

The report of the Political and Economic Risk Consultancy (PERC), a company based in Hong Kong that the Philippines has the most corrupt economy in Asia has been dismissed as unfair, a matter only of perception and not reality and the ratings were done by a miniscule number of foreign investors.
Still, the PERC has been a standard by which even we locals have been rating our country. Starting in 1997 with a corruption rating of 6.50, we have always scored badly: 7.17 in 1998 in the last year of the Ramos presidency, 6.71 in 1999 and 8.67 in 2000 (the Estrada Years and 9.00 in 2001, 8.00 in 2002, 7.67 in 2003, 8.33 in 2004, 8.80 in 2005 and 7.80 in 2006.
Considering the kind of numbers that we have been racking up, it really is not surprising that we are finally considered the most corrupt in Asia with a grade of 9.4 for 2007! (Best score is a zero and the worst possible is a 10, which we missed by just 0.6 points!)
How does PERC get these numbers?
For our 2006 rating of 7.80, they asked businessmen to rate the country on seven points by cxhosing a number from 0 to 10. In the 2006 questionnaire, the first question was presented in this manner:
“How serious do you consider the problem of corruption to be in the public sector?
“Not serious 0-1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10 Very serious”
The businessmen would then encircle their number of choice and for this one, they came up with an average score of 7.71. More than likely, most of the respondents saw the problem as being on the serious side of the equation.
The second question was this: “How serious do you consider the problem of corruption to be in the private sector?” Their average answer was 7.12, lower than in the public sector but still high.
The next question was: “How effective is the judicial system at prosecuting and punishing individuals for corruption when abuses are uncovered?
“0 = effective, 5 = effective but inconsistent, 10 = ineffective” They responded with a 7.18.
Next question: “How serious is the government about fighting corruption?
“0 = very serious, 5 = average, 10 = not serious at all” The average was: 8.18
Next, they were asked: “How tolerant are average citizens of corruption?”
“0 = intolerant, 5 = moderate, 10 = extremely tolerant” The result: 8.20.
“Do you perceive the trend of corruption to be decreasing, staying the same, or increasing?
“0 = decreasing, 5 = staying the same, 10 = increasing” The result: 6.07
“To what extent is corruption a deterrent to your willingness to invest and expand your business?
“0 = not at all, 5 = an average concern, 10 = a major deterrent” The result: 7.73
Did they ask the exact same questions this time around to give the Philippines a score just 0.6 points ways from a perfect score that would have meant a totally corrupt country? I do not have the 2007 questionnaire but, chances are that the questions are not too different from what they have always been.
We can fulminate and protest the unfairness of it all and say that this is just perception and not reality all we want. The fact, however, is that we had been heading toward being the No. 1 Corrupt Country in Asia since the first year that PERC started its ratings.
Honestly, have we actually tried to reel in corruption? This will not happen when we catch some small fry that we throw in jail for stealing a few thousand pesos from a municipal treasury. If we really wanted to make an impact, why not jail whoever overpriced those lamp posts in Cebu or the onw who took the bribe fro an Argentinian company or the one who stole all that agriculture money some of which came from the United States. Unless we put some big fishes away the sharks will always be with us and the will grow bigger and be more numerous.
We will probably be number one in corruption in Asia for a very long time – at least until 2010 and, depending on what her plans are, maybe even beyond 2010.
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Poor Dato, the more mild-mannered Presidential son who has been described as being “cool” by his classmates at the Ateneo de Naga, where (for still unexplained reasons) he did his college degree, 300 hundred miles away from the family home in La Vista, Q.C.
He has been targeted by many NGOs and civic organizations led by a church-based alliance with the cry of “Bicol for the Bicolanos.” Dato has announced his interest in running for congress in the Second District of Camarines Sur, the seat formerly occupied by his mother’s Secretary of Budget and Management (DBM). But, says an anonymous church workers: “We have many Bicolanos capable of representing their fellow Bicolanos. We do not need a Pampangueño
“Aside from not being a native of Camarines Sur, Dato Arroyo represents the most dangerous dynasty in the country today because it is headed by Mrs. Arroyo herself.”
And this is despite the report of Hairstylist Ricky Reyes who told the president that he, personally conducted livelihood trainings in hair cutting and hair styling from Jan. 27 to Feb. 12 in Camarines Sur and Albay that generated 2, 236 jobs in the area.
According to the Philippine News Agency, Reyes, head of the Filipino Hairdressers Cooperative (Fil-Hair Coop), the oldest association of hairdressers in the country with thousands of members in 18 chapters nationwide, had been encouraged by Gloria to conduct livelihood training in Bicol to help those affected by the series of typhoons that hit the country last year.
Dato himself, he presidential son was tapped by his mother to distribute land titles and awards to several police and military officers. Dato also personally handed over to them police squad cars that came from Pagcor.
That may well be Dato’s problem: He has totally identified himself with his political family dynasty. The Bicolanos know him only as a member of that dangerous clan. They know nothing more about Dato.
If they reject him, they reject the family; if they accept him, it must be because he has revealed himself as a person apart from his roots. That is really the only way for politicians to go – to divorce themselves from their dynasties and families. Relying on what one’s forbears did is usually never enough. In Dato’s case, such close identity may even work against him.
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hvp (03.18.07)

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