Backsliding

Premature celebrations are never good. Just days after Malacañang extolled a survey in which expatriates ranked the Philippines the second least corrupt among seven countries in Asia, the same survey group came out with its latest poll. The result: of 12 countries in Asia, the Philippines ranked as the fifth most corrupt, after Indonesia, India, Vietnam and China. The 527 expatriates polled by the Political and Economic Risk Consultancy deemed the Philippines more corrupt than South Korea, Thailand, Taiwan and Malaysia. The respondents ranked Singapore the cleanest with a score of 0.71, followed by Hong Kong with 2.49 and Japan with 3.90.

A report from Singapore by the Agence France-Presse said businessmen were worried "that there has been a backsliding during the Estrada administration, with the most favorable deals going to a few favored insiders." The country's rating worsened to 8.67 from the previous year's 6.71. PERC warned that corruption is threatening the economic recovery of the Philippines and the other graft-prone countries. The only consolation here is that corruption was deemed widespread by PERC, not just in the Philippines but throughout the region.

President Estrada will surely dispute the expatriates' perceptions. He blames his political opponents, losers in the 1998 elections and the mass media for raising the issues of cronyism and corruption against him. The other day, he said the scandals besetting the government were part of a conspiracy to discredit his administration.

The President refuses to believe he is a key factor in perceptions that one can't expect a level playing field when doing business in this country. He has always denied that he is favoring relatives and friends in government deals. But convincing the public will take some work. Transparency must be ensured in the award of government contracts. More effort must be made to rid the bureaucracy of graft and red tape. If the President can't control his relatives and friends, safeguards must be institutionalized in every government office to prevent people from exploiting their relationship with those in power for personal benefit. The President has four years to achieve his goal of making the Philippines the least corrupt in Asia. He can still surprise us.