TI poll: 48% say Noy not effective vs graft

President Aquino’s so-called “straight path” is nowhere to be discerned in a recent Transparency International (TI) survey that showed nearly half of Filipino respondents stated that the current government’s action against corruption was ineffective.

The global corruption watchdog’s survey was conducted between June 1 and September 30 that included the first three months of the Aquino administration.

On the question: How would you assess your current government’s actions on the fight against corruption? 48 percent of some 1,000 respondents answered “ineffective,” while 28 percent replied “effective,” and the rest, or 24 percent, believed it was neither of both.

Nearly seven out of 10 also indicated that the level of corruption in the country increased in the past three years, the 2010 Global Corruption Barometer (GCB) released the other day showed.

Asked to rank local institutions most prone to corruption, respondents identified the police and political parties on top followed by public officials and civil servants tied with the parliament or legislature; the judiciary; the military and businesses; the education system; non-government organizations, and finally media.

The GCB asked respondents to give a score of between one representing clean and five for extremely corrupt to 11 institutions in the survey.

The scores were then averaged and the highest averages were deemed the most corrupt institutions.

The total number of respondents that are represented by the sample in the national survey was 65.372 million.

The GCB examined bribery when people had contact with customs, education, the judiciary, land-related services, medical services, the police, registry and permit services, tax authorities and utilities.

It surveyed more than 91,000 people in 86 countries and territories. It focused on petty bribery, perceptions of public institutions and views of whom people trust to combat corruption.

TI chairman Huguette Labelle said seven out of 10 individuals around the world said they would report a corrupt act if they saw one.

“The message from the 2010 Barometer is that corruption is insidious. It makes people lose faith. The good news is that people are ready to act,” Labelle said.

“Better whistle-blower protection and greater access to information are crucial. Public engagement in the fight against corruption will force those in authority to act; and will give people further courage to speak out and stand up for a cleaner, more transparent world,” she said.

One person in four worldwide paid a bribe during the past year, according to the study which was released to mark International Anti-Corruption Day.

The study focused on small-scale bribery and was put together from polls conducted among more than 91,000 people in 86 countries and territories.

In the past 12 months, one in four paid a bribe to one of nine institutions, such as health, education or tax authorities, according to the 2010 Global Corruption Barometer.

But it was the police who proved most corrupt, according to the study which reported that 29 percent of those having dealings with police said they had paid a bribe.

Worldwide, sub-Saharan Africa was the region reporting the greatest incidence of bribery with more than one person in two saying they had made such payments to officials in the past 12 months.

The Middle East and North Africa was the next most corrupt region with 36 percent of people there reporting having paid a bribe.

This compared to 32 percent in the former Soviet republics, 23 percent in South America, 19 percent in the Balkans and Turkey, 11 percent in the Asia-Pacific region, and five percent in the European Union and North America.

Countries topping the list for reported bribe payments over the year were Afghanistan, Cambodia, Cameroon, India, Iraq, Liberia, Nigeria, the Palestinian territories, Senegal, Sierre Leone and Uganda, where more than one person out of two said they had handed out financial sweeteners to officials.

Nearly half of respondents said they paid to avoid problems, while a quarter said it was meant to speed up procedures.

Lower income earners reported paying more bribes than the better paid.

The study, the seventh on the matter by Transparency International since 2003, this time involved a greater number of countries, including for the first time China, Bangladesh and the Palestinian territories.

Polling, mostly by the Gallup Institute, was conducted between June 1 and September 30.

The United Nations established International Anti-Corruption Day in 2003 to raise awareness of graft and promote the global fight against it. –Daily Tribune