Corruption perception high in final days of PNoy—SWS

The final days of the administration of former President Benigno S. Aquino III saw an increase in the apprehensions of businessmen over corruption in the government, with 63 percent saying they saw a “a lot” of it in the government, compared to 56 percent in 2013, a Social Weather Stations survey showed.

The 2016 survey was based on interviews with executives of 950 enterprises in the National Capital Region, Metro Angeles, Cavite-Laguna-Batangas, Metro Iloilo, Metro Cebu, Metro Davao, and Cagayan de Oro-Iligan conducted from Feb. 2 to May 6 this year.

This year’s figure prior to the national polls was far higher compared to the 43 percent in 2012. It was also a return to the 60-percent to 77-percent range under former President Gloria Arroyo, and was equal to the 63 percent in 2000 under then-President Joseph Estrada, the survey showed.

Thirty-five percent of the respondents said they had personal knowledge of a corrupt transaction with the government in their line of business; in 2015, the survey figure was 32 percent.

Forty-two percent said most companies in their sector of business give bribes to win public sector contracts.
Of the 35 institutions rated for sincerity in fighting corruption, 19 scored favorable net sincerity rating, which was computed by deducting those who answered insincere from sincere.

The sole agency with “very bad” net sincerity rating was the Bureau of Customs (BoC), which has been reaping unfavorable ratings since 2013 that ranged from negative 55 to negative 68, after briefly recovering to “bad” or “negative 46” in 2012, from “very bad” or “negative 69” in 2009 and an “execrable negative 72” in 2008. Of the 35 institutions rated for sincerity in fighting corruption, there were four upgrades in 2016 from 2015, 18 no-change, and 13 downgrades from 2015.

The survey showed more businessmen believe that corrupt practices were not needed for their business to prosper in the Philippines, with 81 percent of respondents answering “disagree” to the statement “to prosper in business in the Philippines today, one has to be corrupt.”

The figure was higher than 2015’s 78 percent and 74 percent in 2006 during the Arroyo administration.
More enterprises are “becoming optimistic” that the public sector is capable of being run without corruption, as 67 percent of businessmen said “the government can be run without corruption,” compared to 33 percent who said “corruption is part of the way government works,” based on the survey.