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Published by the Visayan Daily Star Publications, Inc.

NINFA R. LEONARDIA Editor-in-Chief & President

CARLA P. GOMEZ Editor GUILLERMO TEJIDA III Desk Editor NANETTE L. GUADALQUIVER Busines Editor CEDELF P. TUPAS Sports Editor (On Leave) RENE GENOVE Bureau Chief, Dumaguete MAJA P. DELY Advertising Coordinator

CARLOS ANTONIO L. LEONARDIA Administrative Officer

According to the results of a regional survey of expatriate businessmen by the Hong Kong- based Political and Economic Risk  Consultancy, the Philippines remains the most corrupt economy in Asia. 

Some 1,400 expatriates were polled on the economies of 13 countries, with exclusion of Myanmar and Bangladesh because of their notoriety for corruption, and the Philippines managed to score none out of a possible 10 points in a grading system where zero is the best score and 10 the worst.  Thailand followed closely with a score of 8, and the tied score of 7.98 for Indonesia and China putting them in the company of the 4 most corrupt economies in Asia as ranked by the PERC study.

The PERC report on corruption is the first for 2008, and given the lackluster efforts of this government against corruption and the continuing slew of anomalous deals being uncovered, it would not be surprising to see the Philippines consistently topping the region, if not the planet, where corruption, or at least the perception of corruption, is concerned. 

The predictable government response to this report, as with most negative reports concerning the government in the past, will be to dismiss it as mere propaganda, which in the case of this most recent PERC report, means going as far as to imply that the opinions of more than 1,400 expatriates can be bought by the noisy opposition and those with vested interests.

Motherhood statements related to the fight against corruption in this country will also be made, but experience has shown us that after the denials and the rhetoric, concrete action against the thieves and plunderers who continue to loot and pillage the coffers of the nation will still be lacking to say the least.  A knee jerk reaction will probably result in the suspension, investigation, or prosecution of small fry, but the big fish will continue to feast undisturbed or at least with the comforting thought that they can always depend on presidential pardon to bail them out.

As long as the people running this country continue to play deaf and dumb to the menace that is corruption, any kind of economic progress, no matter how phenomenal, will never be able to make up for the billions of pesos continuously being diverted to the bank accounts of the privileged few who have wholesale access to unrestrained corruption.*