GRAFT AND CORRUPTION

• Graft and Corruption


  Includes bribery, extortion, and nepotism, and are characterized by the subordination of public interest to private aims and violations of the norms of duty and welfare, accompanied by secrecy, betrayal, deception and a callous disregard for any consequences suffered by the public
• 90 - Denmark
• 33 - Philippines
• 12 - Somalia
• At the top of the CPI, countries in Western Europe and the European Union continue to wrestle with transparency and accountability in their response to COVID-19, threatening the region's clean image
• In parts of Asia Pacific, the Americas, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, increasing restrictions on accountability measures and basic civil freedoms allow corruption to go unchecked. Even historically high-performing countries are showing signs of decline
• In the Middle East and North Africa, the interests of a powerful few continue to dominate the political and private sphere, and the limitations placed on civil and political freedoms are blocking any significant progress
• In Sub-Saharan Africa, armed conflict, violent transitions of power and increasing terrorist threats combined with poor enforcement of anti-corruption commitments rob citizens of their basic rights and services
• Asia has witnessed 10 years of mass movements calling for action against corruption, but sadly little has changed
• Public outrage has instead been co-opted by strongmen in the form of populist leaders in democratic countries and authoritarians elsewhere
• According to CPI, the Philippines scored a total of 33 points out of 100. Even as far back as 2012, it has fluctuated around the same CPI score, with the highest score being 38 points in 2014 and the lowest being 33 points in 2021 and 2022
• To further contextualize how low it scored, the regional average CPI score for the Asia-Pacific region is 45, with zero as highly corrupt. And of the 31 countries and territories in the region, the Philippines placed 22nd
• CPI reflects the views of experts or surveys of business people on a number of corrupt behavior in the public sector (such as bribery, diversion of public funds, nepotism in the civil service, use of public office for private gain, etc.)
• CPI also measures the available mechanisms to prevent corruption, such as enforcement mechanisms, effective prosecution of corrupt officials, red tape, laws on adequate financial disclosure and legal protection for whistleblowers
• Market Corruption


  Politicians peddle their influence to provide connections to other people, essentially serving as middlemen
• Elite Cartel Corruption


  There exist networks of elites that may collude to protect their economic and political advantages
• Official Mogul Corruption


  Economic moguls (or their clients) are usually the top political figures and face few constraints from the state or their competitors
• Oligarch-and-Clan Corruption


  Corruption in countries with major political and economic liberalization and weak institutions, characterized by a "disorderly, sometimes violent scramble among contending oligarchs seeking to parlay personal resources into wealth and power"
• In the Philippines, Oligarch-and-Clan Corruption manifests itself in the political system, where it is difficult to determine what is public and what is private (i.e., who is a politician and who is an entrepreneur)
• Oligarchs attempt to use their power for their private benefit or the benefit of their families. From the Aquinos, Binays, Dutertes, Roxases and Marcoses
• Several politicians have also been convicted of graft and corruption (or have at least been hounded by allegations of corruption) and still remain in politics
• Corruption, no matter what kind, needs to be control. It results in loss of government money, which could have been used to boost the economy and help ordinary citizens, especially those from the lower income sectors
• According to the 2007 study, the Office of the Ombudsman had, in 1999, pegged losses arising from corruption at P100 million daily, whereas the World Bank estimates the losses at one-fifth of the national government budget. For relatively more updated figures, former Deputy Ombudsman Cyril Ramos claimed that the Philippines had lost a total of P1.4 trillion in 2017 and 2018
• What is common to all countries, which are among the most corrupt, has been identified by Svensson; all of them are developing countries or countries in transition, have low-income, most have a closed economy, the influence of religion is visible, low media freedom and a relatively low level of education
• The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the Bureau of Customs topped the list of the most corrupt departments and agencies of the government, in a report released by the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC)