Philippines 'most corrupt' in Asia: Poll

This is from the Inquirer. Not too many of the rankings are listed so it is hard to know how the Philippines compared to other corrupt countries. The article is rather strange in that it suggests that the Philippines is a 'sad case' because corruption is politicised and openly discussed in the media unlike authoritarian countries such as Vietnam and China. Huh? I suppose being just part of the accepted mode of operation and uncriticised is a plus! Having opposition parties and media criticise corruption is bad and sad! I would think that it is the other way around unless you support corruption as a normal and acceptable cost of doing business.

Philippines ‘most corrupt’ in Asia



Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 02:08:00 03/23/2008


MANILA, Philippines—The Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia and China are among the most corrupt Asian economies, according to results of a regional poll of expatriate businessmen released March 10.

Singapore and Hong Kong retained their rankings as the cleanest economies, the Political and Economic Risk Consultancy (PERC) said.

The annual survey covers only 13 economies in Asia and excludes other countries notorious for corruption, such as Myanmar and Bangladesh.

Some 1,400 expatriates were polled in January and February this year, PERC said.

Corruption remains a problem in the region despite huge economic progress made over the years, with governments generally lacking the political will to tackle the problem, the Hong Kong-based PERC said.

“The Philippines is a sad case when it comes to corruption,” the consultancy said in a summary report made available to AFP.

The Philippine situation is “probably no worse than in places like Indonesia and Thailand” but corruption has become politicized and is openly discussed in the media, unlike in authoritarian countries like China and Vietnam, it said.

The Philippines scored 9.0 out of a possible 10 points under a grading system used by PERC under which zero is the best score and 10 the worst