Philippine rank in world’s most corrupt improves

The Philippines’ ranking among the world’s most corrupt countries has slightly improved.

From 134th last year, it ranked 129th this year out of 183 most corrupt countries surveyed in the 2011 Corruption Perception Index (CPI) released by Transparency International (TI)-Philippines on Thursday.

For 2011, the Philippines scores 2.6, which was a bit higher than last year’s 2.4, using data from 12 surveys that look at factors such as enforcement of anti-corruption laws, access to information and conflicts of interests.

The survey, which was conducted from December 2009 to September 2011, covers two administrations — the latter part of the Arroyo administration and the early part of the Aquino administration.

Lawyer Araceli Villanueva of Transparency International-Philippines attributed this slight improvement to President Benigno Aquino 3rd’s campaign against corruption.

“If you go by the period of survey, it should be attributed to [the Aquino administration] because of the length of time,” she said during an interview.

TI-Philippines President Georgina Encanto said that the current political environment in the country provides a great opportunity to achieve major strides in battling corruption.

The CPI score indicates the perceived level of public sector corruption on a scale of 0 -10, where 0 means that a country is perceived as highly corrupt and 10 means that a country is perceived as very clean.

This is the Philippines’ highest ranking since 2007 when it ranked 131st with a score of 2.5.

In 2010 and 2009, the country score 2.4, showing virtually no improvement in the corruption index.

“Some say it is not insignificant but for us there is a movement, and the movement is not going down, there is still movement… this is a good indication that the government is doing something to fight corruption,” Villanueva said.

TI-Philippines Chairman Dolores Espanol said that “the only way to improve the CPI score is for the general public to see results and experience clean governance in their everyday lives.”

Transparency International said that corruption continues to plague too many countries around the world, adding that some governments fail to protect citizens from corruption.

“This year we have seen corruption on protesters’ banners be they rich or poor. Whether in a Europe hit by debt crisis or an Arab world starting a new political era, leaders must heed the demands for better government,” said Huguette Labelle, the chairman of Transparency International.

The most corrupt countries, according to the survey, were North Korea and Somalia, which both ranked 182nd while New Zealand was judged as the least corrupt, topping the list with a score of 9.5.

Denmark and Finland shared the second spot with both posting 9.4 and Sweden came in third with 9.3, followed by Singapore in fifth place with 9.2. –Ritchie A. Horario, Correspondent, Manila Times