RP better at controlling corruption—DFA chief

MANILA, Philippines – (UPDATE 2) The Philippines has become better at controlling corruption, and in promoting political and civil rights, as well as public accountability, Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo said Tuesday, citing the Control of Corruption indicator, which showed an improved ranking from 39 down to 33.

He said this was better than the 37 median of the 73 countries classified as low income in the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) list.

The Millenium Challenge Corp. (MCC) is a US government agency created to help reduce poverty in poor countries through sustained development.

“On the control of corruption or COC indicator, the country’s ranking actually improved by six notches – from 39th to 33th place [among 73 countries],” said Romulo.

“The Philippine government will continue to build on these gains,” he asserted.

The Philippines, however, has much to improve and registered “below the median scores in a number of indicators,” particulary in categories of “investing in people” or health and education services although Romulo said these median scores were the result of “technicalities in evaluation.”

In contrast to the country’s scorecard last year, Romulo said, the Philippines would have showed improved performances had it not been elevated to a higher income category, based on its improved per capita income. Countries in the higher income category are measured by more stringent standards.

The failing marks, he stressed, resulted chiefly from the country’s transition from a low-income country (LIC) in 2008 to lower middle-income (LMIC) in 2009, based on its improved income per capita.

“The country’s failing grades in some areas is the result of technicalities in evaluation, such as the country’s rise from a low-income country to a lower middle-income country. Higher income countries are measured using more stringent standards,” Romulo said.

“The improvement in the country’s income category is a clear reflection of the Philippine government’s sustained commitment to economic and governance reforms amidst the global financial crisis,” he added.

Citing another report, the 2009 World Governance Indicators of the World Bank Institute, the secretary boasted of the government’s improvement in governance.

“The Philippines demonstrated significant improvements in four out of six governance dimensions namely, government effectiveness, regulatory quality, rule of law, and control of corruption. In fact, the biggest jump was recorded in the control of corruption where our score increased from 22.2 percent to 26.1 percent,” he said.

The DFA said the MCC scorecard showed that the country received passing marks for political rights (53 percent), civil liberties (62 percent), government effectiveness (79 percent), and voice and accountability (59 percent).

Under Economic Freedom, the Philippines passed in five categories, namely, regulatory quality (74 percent), land rights and access (58 percent), trade policy (65 percent), inflation (48 percent), and fiscal policy (56 percent), but failed in business start-up (34 percent).

Under the second broad category of Investing in People, the country showed a passing mark for natural resource management (84 percent) but failed under immunization rates (41 percent), girls’ primary education completion (44 percent), health expenditures (19 percent), and primary education expenditures (32 percent).

But the country “remains hopeful that being placed in a higher income category will not derail its bid for an MCC full Compact grant in 2010,” said Romulo.

Manila’s Compact proposal for 2010-2014 is currently under technical review.

The proposal focuses on three high-impact projects: secondary national roads development, comprehensive and integrated delivery of social services and integrated revenue information system.

Recognizing the country’s “continuing commitment to good policy performance,” MCC Vice President for Compact Development Darius Teter recently signed a memorandum of understanding with Willy Gaa, Philippine ambassador to US, on the Millenium Challenge Account Act of 2003.

Under the agreement, the MCC will provide the Philippines with $5.57 million to “help complete beneficiary analysis, engineering designs and environmental and social impact assessments for the Compact proposal.” –Veronica Uy, INQUIRER.net