PNoy’s ‘clean’ image helped, report says

The Philippines was the most improved in terms of perception of corruption among 16 Asia-Pacific countries because of President Aquino’s “clean” image, although corrupt practices persist in the country, a recent report of Hong Kong-based consulting firm Political and Economic Risk Consultancy Ltd. (Perc) showed.

In its annual review of corruption in Asia for 2016, Perc asked residents as well as expatriates in the Philippines and 15 other countries the question: “How do you grade the problem of corruption in the country in which you are working?”

In the scale of 0 to 10, of which 10 was the worst score, the Philippines scored an average of 7.05, better than the 7.43 it posted last year.

The Philippines scored 9.4 in 2007, 9 in 2008, 7.68 in 2009, 8.25 in 2010, 8.9 in 2011, 9.35 in 2012, 8.28 in 2013, and 7.85 in 2014.

The country also moved up to rank 10th this year from 12th in the 2015 survey—its best performance in the past seven years.

“The Philippines was the only country we surveyed where there was an improvement of more than 5 percent. This is an example of how leadership really can make a difference,” Perc said in a March 30 report.

“President Aquino has personally maintained an image for being ’clean’ and for trying to reduce the problem. Consequently, as his term of office nears an end and a new election campaign gets underway, aspiring candidates are not accusing him of corrupt behavior the way candidates attacked the two previous sitting presidents in order to gain voter support. Aquino retains a great deal of personal popularity, and those trying to succeed him have adopted a tone that they will either carry on with his policies or do an even better job,” Perc noted.

“Aquino’s personal performance, particularly compared with his two immediate predecessors, was enough to cause the survey score to improve quite a bit not only this year compared with last but also on an annual basis throughout Aquino’s term of office,” it added.

The report nonetheless pointed out that “most of the characteristics of corruption in the Philippines have not changed at all.”

“[Corruption] remains a serious problem, affecting many public sector institutions and private sector industries, including banking, construction, agriculture and utilities,” Perc said.

The Philippines scored better than cellar dweller India (with a score of 8.13), Indonesia (8), Vietnam (7.92), Cambodia (7.75), Thailand (7.67), and China (7.5).

“Countries with worse grades than the Philippines have lacked the top-level leadership that was able to convince the public of their own commitment to high ethical standards, let alone their determination to fix deep, systemic problems with corruption,” Perc said.

More countries, however, performed better than the Philippines, including Singapore (the best score of 1.67), Australia (2.67), Japan, (3), Hong Kong (3.4), USA (4.61), Taiwan (6.08), Macau (6.15), South Korea (6.17), and Malaysia (6.95).

In a statement, the government’s Investor Relations Office (IRO) noted that countries and territories enjoying higher per capita incomes posted better scores.

According to the IRO, the Philippines’ better score and higher ranking in Perc’s survey was “positive for the country’s credit ratings” as these were being used as inputs to the World Bank’s Worldwide Governance Indicators, which credit rating agencies use when assessing a country’s creditworthiness.

“Over the past six years, we have registered marked improvements across every significant indicator and international ranking. It’s clear as day: President Aquino’s good governance agenda has driven up this virtuous cycle. With the wind on our backs, we ought to double down on rooting out corruption—the better to optimize our public resources to invest in our people,” Finance Secretary Cesar V. Purisima was quoted by the IRO as saying.