Below are the salient parts of the 2009 Philippine corruption survey published by the Social Weather Station (SWS).
Please note that there seems to be an improvement in the public image of the Judiciary as of the end of 2009.
This heartening report should be attributed to the leadership of the soft-spoken and humble but persevering, hardworking, innovative and independent-minded Philippine Chief Justice Reynato Puno, a silent but determined judicial worker whom I consider to be one of the most effective chief justices of the Philippines in recent decades. Thus:
1. The annual proportion of managers seeing “a lot” of corruption in the public sector has been steady at two-thirds since 2005. Almost all of them see it happening in the national level; progressively fewer see it at the provincial, city and barangay levels. The median reported provision for bribery in a government contract continues to be 20 percent.
2. The annual proportion seeing “a lot” of corruption in the private sector, also flat since 2005, has been at one-fourth. The median reported provision for bribery in a private contract continues to be 10 percent.
3. The proportion of managers whose companies were solicited for a bribe by someone in government in the past year was 61 percent—below the 2008 peak of 70 percent, but still the second highest rate since 2005.
4. Managers’ assessments of government sincerity in fighting corruption depend on the agency the survey asks about; here I list the agencies from highest to lowest. The Supreme Court, Social Security System, Department of Trade and Industry, Department of Health and city governments have kept their grades of “good” (defined by SWS as Net Sincerity of +30 to +49). Trial courts and the Armed Forces of the Philippines have risen to “moderate” (+10 to +29) in 2009 from “neutral” (-9 to +9) in 2008.
Social Climate
The new SWS corruption surveys
By Mahar Mangahas
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 23:47:00 02/19/2010
FRIDAY, Feb. 19, was the first public presentation of the 2009 round of SWS surveys of Filipino managers in five major business locations on the subject of corruption. Here is my overview:
The annual proportion of managers seeing “a lot” of corruption in the public sector has been steady at two-thirds since 2005. Almost all of them see it happening in the national level; progressively fewer see it at the provincial, city and barangay levels. The median reported provision for bribery in a government contract continues to be 20 percent.
The annual proportion seeing “a lot” of corruption in the private sector, also flat since 2005, has been at one-fourth. The median reported provision for bribery in a private contract continues to be 10 percent.
The proportion of managers whose companies were solicited for a bribe by someone in government in the past year was 61 percent—below the 2008 peak of 70 percent, but still the second highest rate since 2005.
On the other hand, half of the managers say there has been improvement in the transparency of the process of bidding for a government contract.
Managers’ assessments of government sincerity in fighting corruption depend on the agency the survey asks about; here I list the agencies from highest to lowest. The Supreme Court, Social Security System, Department of Trade and Industry, Department of Health and city governments have kept their grades of “good” (defined by SWS as Net Sincerity of +30 to +49). Trial courts and the Armed Forces of the Philippines have risen to “moderate” (+10 to +29) in 2009 from “neutral” (-9 to +9) in 2008.
Agencies graded “neutral” in 2009 are the Sandiganbayan, Commission on Audit (down from “moderate” in 2008), Department of Education, Senate, Department of Finance (“moderate” in 2008), Department of Justice (up from “poor,” or within -10 to -29, in 2007-2008), Commission on Elections (up from “poor” in 2008 and from “bad,” or within -30 to -49, in 2007), and the Ombudsman.
Agencies graded “poor” in 2009 are the Department of Budget and Management (down from “neutral”), Philippine National Police, Department of Agriculture, Department of the Interior and Local Government, and the Presidential Commission on Good Government (up from “bad” in 2008).
Agencies graded “bad” in 2009 are the Department of Transportation and Communications (formerly “poor”), Presidential Anti-Graft Commission (“poor” in 2008, “neutral” in 2007), Department of Environment and Natural Resources (formerly “poor”), House of Representatives, Office of the President (“poor” in 2008, “neutral” in 2007), and Land Transportation Office.
The agencies graded “very bad” (-50 or worse) in 2009 are, as in earlier years, the Bureau of Internal Revenue, Department of Public Works and Highways, and Bureau of Customs.
For the first time, the surveys asked about local government procedures. Most managers call these procedures transparent. At least half say that renewing local permits is easier now than three years ago. Over two-thirds say they don’t use intermediaries to facilitate renewals.
Two-fifths of the managers say that public access to information has improved over the past five years. Three-fourths support the passage of a strong law on the right to information.
Trends in following honest business practices are flat, even though still unsatisfactory: (a) only one-fifth say that all companies in their sector pay taxes honestly; (b) only one-fifth say they all keep only one set of books; (c) only one-third say they all issue receipts for all revenues; (d) only one-third have clear rules on giving gifts to government officials; (e) less than half say they all demand receipts for all expenses; and (f) only two-thirds have a written code of ethics.
The 2009 survey has a special section on contributions to election campaigns. Compared to 2004, when similar questions were asked, now the contributors from business appear fewer, the amounts contributed appear smaller, and more of the contributions are voluntary rather than solicited.
In choosing a candidate for president, the top concerns of both managers and the general public are (1) “fighting corruption” and (2) “creating jobs.” For managers, next comes “promoting a good business environment.” For the general public, however, next is “eradicating poverty.” (This uses the general SWS survey on voters’ priorities of Dec. 5-10, 2009.)
Finally, what about the matter most critical to our business association collaborators: the willingness of managers to put their money where their mouths are. The SWS surveys have regularly asked, if there could be a program capable of cutting corruption by half within 10 years, how much of their net income would the company contribute to it?
In 2009, the median answer is back to the 5 percent of 2005 and 2006, after having slumped to 2 percent in 2007 and 3 percent in 2008. This is encouraging. I hope it leads to a revival of the business sector’s Coalition on Corruption.
* * *
The new SWS surveys of enterprises were done over Nov. 3 to Dec. 5, 2009 on a total of 550 companies, consisting of 200 in Metro Manila, 100 in Metro Cebu, 100 in Metro Davao, 75 in Cagayan de Oro-Iligan, and 75 in Cavite-Laguna-Batangas, randomly drawn from lists furnished by collaborating local business associations. They are the ninth in a series that began in 2000, sponsored by The Asia Foundation (TAF), meant for publication.
* * *
Contact SWS: www.sws.org.ph or mahar.mangahas@sws.org.ph.
See:
http://opinion.inquirer.net/inquireropinion/columns/view/20100219-254230/The-new-SWS-corruption-surveys
