Bu-lat-lat (boo-lat-lat) verb: to search, probe, investigate, inquire; to unearth facts Volume 3, Number 36 October 12 - 18, 2003 Quezon City, Philippines |
Corruption
Rises Fast Under Arroyo, Int’l Watchdog Says BY BULATLAT.COM Amid
charges implicating Philippine presidential husband Miguel Arroyo in a
money-laundering web, the Philippines fell sharply to rank 92 from rank 77 in an
index of 133 countries rated for corruption by the London-based Transparency
International (TI). This Corruption
Perceptions Index (CPI) 2003 places the Philippines in the top quarter of the
most corrupt countries, as analyzed by the top international experts on
corruption. The Philippines scored
2.5 on a scale of 1 to 10, just 1.2 points off the world’s most corrupt
country, Bangladesh. The
index reflects the perceptions of the business people, academics and risk
analysts, both resident and non-resident.
The statistics are computed by a group led by Prof. Dr. Johann Graf
Lambsdorff at Passau University in Germany.
The
ratings raise questions about the image-building efforts of the administration
of Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who has cited an alleged clamor
by investors as the reason for backtracking on a decision announced in December
2002 not to run for president in 2004. In most surveys, foreign and local
investors point to government corruption as among the chief business problems
discouraging investment. The
same survey shows that corruption in both rich and poor countries is highly
pervasive. The 2003 index concludes
that corruption is rampant in nine out of ten poor countries, as well as in the
rich countries in the form of corporate bribery by transnational corporations (TNCs).
The findings complement that of TI’s Bribe Payers Index (BPI), which
shows high levels of bribery in the third world by companies based in Russia,
China, Taiwan, south Korea, Italy, Hongkong, Japan, U.S. and France. For full details of the TI CPI 2003, visit http://www.transparency.org/cpi/index.html#cpi We want to know what you think of this article.
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