4 of 10 Pinoys see decrease in corruption

Nearly four in 10 Filipinos think corruption in the Philippines has “decreased a little” in the last two years, according to a survey conducted by Transparency International.

Results of the “Global Corruption Barometer 2013” showed 35 percent of Filipino respondents believe corruption in the country went down a little in the past two years, 31 percent said the level of dishonesty “stayed the same” and 2 percent said it decreased a lot.

However, 19 percent of respondents said corruption increased a lot and 12 percent said it increased.

The survey also said that three in 10 respondents (31 percent) see the Aquino government’s efforts in fighting corruption in the last two years as “neither effective nor ineffective.”

Bribing was experienced when dealing with the judiciary (10 percent), tax revenue (7 percent), education services (6 percent), utilities (5 percent), and medical and health services (4 percent).

As to the most corrupt institutions, 69 percent of respondents said the police were most affected by corruption, followed by public officials and civil servants (64 percent), political parties (58 percent), the judiciary (56 percent), and parliament and legislature (52 percent). –Helen Flores, Philippine Star