In-Focus

The Philippines slipped six spots in Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index 2016 to land on the 101^st spot out of 176 countries, from 95 out of 168 in the 2015 survey. The annual global survey scores countries based on how corrupt their public sectors are seen to be, with the no. 1 spot belonging to the country that is perceived as least corrupt.

On a scale of 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean), the Philippines maintained its 2015 score of 35, below the 2016 global average of 43.

This suggests that more needs to be done to reverse public perception regarding the Philippine government’s transparency, accountability, and commitment to ethical transactions.

“We at the Integrity Initiative see the 2016 results as a strong motivation to establish closer cooperation between anti-corruption stakeholders in government and in the private sector,” says Greg Navarro, new Chairman of the Integrity Initiative, Inc. “While the national government and the LGUs have to do their parts in the change process, private sector companies also have to commit to  ‘doing business with integrity’, as opposed to ‘doing business as usual’, if we are to successfully build a culture of integrity,” added Mr. Navarro.

 The Integrity Initiative has asked the current administration to sign an executive order that will offer non-fiscal benefits to companies that sign the Integrity Pledge, a formal and concrete expression of commitment to abide by ethical business practices and to support a national campaign against corruption and undertake the integrity certification process. The organization is also counting on the passage of a more comprehensive Freedom of Information Law, the passage of the Whistleblower Protection Law, and the faster delivery of justice, to name a few, to help stamp out corruption in the country’s public and private sectors.