Essay on Administrative Reform in the Philippines
A study was made by the World Bank about the extent of corruption in the Philippines. The study reveals the existence of a consensus in the government, nongovernmental and international circles that corruption in the public and private sectors in the Philippines is pervasive and deep-rooted, touching even the judiciary and mass media (Chay Florentino-Holifena, 1998). This is collaborated by the data collected in September 1998 by Social Weather Station (SWS). The survey says that nearly two thirds of the respondent thought that corruption exists in the government with 38% saying “a great deal” while 34% saying “some.” Also, according to Transparency International which calculated that Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) n the Philippines, on a scale of1 (higher perception of corruption) to 10 (negligible perception), the CPI for the Philippines was 3.6 in 1999. Out of the 99 countries rated, the Philippines was perceived as the Fifty-fifth least corrupt. As a result of the problem of prevalence of corruption in the Philippines, then President Joseph Estrada asked the World Bank to make recommendations to help the Philippine government strengthen its fight against corruption. For its part, the Philippines thought that the need for a stronger anti-corruption program is imperative considering that it is being cited with increasing frequency by international business surveys and anticorruption agencies as a country where corruption inhibit foreign and domestic investment. The need for stronger anti-corruption program by the Philippines is also brought about by the effects of corruption which drains away limited and scarce resources of the Philippine government for development, distorts access to government services by poor communities and undermines the public confidence in the governments determination to help alleviate poverty