DOF cites 'time lag' in Philippines' low scores in fighting corruption

MANILA, Philippines — “Inherent time lags” could have contributed to the Philippines’ low scores in controlling corruption in the annual assessment of US poverty reduction agency Millennium Challenge Corporation, the Department of Finance said Friday.

According to the MCC’s Fiscal Year 2018 scorecard, the Philippines logged a percentile ranking of 50 percent in “control of corruption” after scoring zero and 47 percent in “rule of law” after bagging a score of -0.01.

The Philippines was assessed under the low income group category. Based on its score, the country did not meet the performance standard in the two indicators.  

Commenting on the aid-giving body’s findings, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III cited “inherent time lags” in the third-party data used by the MCC in assessing the annual country scorecard for the Philippines.

“The ‘Control of Corruption’ and ‘Rule of Law’ scores, for example, were based on an aggregation of quantitative assessments and perception surveys that were collected by the World Bank Worldwide Governance Indicators in conjunction with the Brookings Institution based on information for the events of 2016,” Dominguez explained in a statement.

“We have been informed that we are at the median level in these two indicators, which we believe we can improve as we work together with the MCC to enlighten them about our effective efforts to weed out corruption in the Philippine bureaucracy,” he added.

On its website, MCC said the scorecards consolidate an individual country’s scores for each of the policy indicators MCC uses to determine eligibility for its assistance programs.

By using information collected from independent, third-party sources, MCC said it would allow an “objective comparison” of all candidate countries.

In the same statement on Friday, Dominguez trumpeted the reforms introduced by the government in the area of fighting corruption and good governance, including the establishment of a citizens’ complaint hotline, among others.

“In its first year in office, the Duterte Administration has actually been relentless in the campaign against corruption in government,” the finance chief remarked.

In August, MCC announced that the Philippines is one of the candidates for compact eligibility for 2018. The MCC compact is only one of the many streams of US assistance that flows to the Philippines.

The aid firm has not made any announcement about the country’s eligibility as the MCC Board of Directors would bare the list of new partner countries in December.

READ: Palace: MCC grant should be aligned with Duterte admin's agenda

Should the Philippines secure the MCC grant, it would be the second time for the country to receive the aid package. The MCC’s first five-year $434 million compact with the Philippines closed in May 2016.

Last year, the Philippine government said it could live with less assistance from Washington after MCC put on hold a decision to fund a second anti-poverty program due to “concerns around rule of law and civil liberties.”

“The Philippines remains firmly committed to the rule of law and strictly adheres to due process. The President has also made clear that his platform of government will be based on zero tolerance for corruption in government,” Dominguez assured the MCC.