Businesses find lot of corruption in Philippines government, survey shows

Fifty-six per cent of the businesspeople claimed seeing “a lot” of corruption in the public sector, a 30-per-cent increase from 43 per cent in 2012, results of the 2013 SWS Survey of Enterprises on Corruption showed.

Despite this perception of widespread corruption by the executives, satisfaction with government efforts to promote a good business environment and business expectations for the next two years peaked in 2013.

The results were presented on Wednesday at the three-day Good Governance Summit where President Beningo Aquino delivered the opening address.

The survey, conducted from July 31 to November 29 last year, used face-to-face interviews with executives of 951 companies nationwide.

“The field work of the survey was done during the height of the pork barrel scandal and discussion of the issue has influence on people’s perception,” said Vincent Lazatin, executive director of Transparency and Accountability Network.

An Inquirer series on the 10-billion-peso (Bt7.45 billion) scam started in July 12 last year, enraging the public that led to a series of protests across the country, including the “One Million People March” on August 26 at Manila’s Rizal Park, which called for the abolition of the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) and other forms of subsidies. 

Acting on several petitions, the Supreme Court ruled last November that the PDAF, a graft-ridden pork barrel of lawmakers, was unconstitutional.

The scam allegedly diverted state funding allocated to senators and members of the House of Representatives to bogus non-government organisations set up by businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles.

Whistle-blowers led by Benhur Luy, a relative and former employee of Napoles, told Senate hearings last year that certain senators and House members received kickbacks of up to 50 per cent of the PDAF that was supposed to finance projects, while Napoles got 40 per cent and government conduits, 10 per cent.

Based on the testimony of Luy and other whistle-blowers, the Department of Justice filed plunder and corruption charges against Senators Juan Ponce Enrile, Jinggoy Estrada and Ramon Revilla Jr, several former House members and Napoles in the Office of the Ombudsman last year.

 

Customs ‘very bad’

Of the 26 state institutions that were rated for sincerity in fighting corruption, the Bureau of Customs was the sole agency with a “very bad” net sincerity rating at -63 from bad -46.

The Senate recorded the biggest rating downgrade, from a good +36 in 2012 to neutral -8 in 2013.