BERLIN, Germany – Corruption in the Philippines continued to worsen last year, dropping from 117 last year to 121 out of 163 countries listed in the 2006 Corruption Perception Index by the global corruption watchdog Transparency International (TI).
The Berlin-based watchdog ranks 163 countries based on perceived levels of corruption among public officials and politicians in its Corruption Perceptions Index.
The Philippines, which ranked 117 last year, dropped to 121 this year, a rank shared by Russia, Rwanda, Nepal, Honduras, Swaziland, Benin, Gambia and Guyana.
The worst levels in perceived corruption in the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) were Myanmar (160) and Indonesia (130) and the Philippines (121), while Singapore (5), Malaysia (44), Thailand (63), Laos (111) and Vietnam (111) were seen as the cleanest.
Brunei and Cambodia were not included in
the TI survey.
The watchdog said some of the world’s
poorest nations were also the most sleaze-ridden, undermining international
development efforts.
“Corruption traps millions in poverty,”
Huguette Labelle, chairman of the Berlin-based non-government organization, in
a statement, said.
The lower the ranking, the worse is the
perceived corruption in a particular country. In 2004, the Philippines ranked
102 of 146 countries surveyed.
Iraq, racked by violence since the 2003
US-led invasion, and impoverished Haiti, Myanmar and Guinea were ranked as the
most corrupt countries in the world.
Haiti, the poorest country in the
Americas, was ranked last, just below Iraq, Myanmar and Guinea, reflecting what
TI said was a high correlation between violence, poverty and corruption.
“This survey suggests that corruption in
Iraq is very bad,” TI Chief Executive David Nussbaum told Reuters.
“When you have high levels of violence,
not only does security break down, but so do checks and balances, law
enforcement and the functioning of institutions like the judiciary and
legislature. If all that is under strain the very system that works to prevent
corruption is undermined."
Iraq has suffered rising sectarian
violence and bloodshed since the invasion, heaping pressure on President Bush
ahead of congressional elections Nov. 7.
Nussbaum pointed to US engineering giant
Bechtel Corp’s decision last week to pull out of Iraq as a sign of how bad the
security situation had become. Fifty-two Bechtel employees have been killed in
Iraq since 2003.
Haiti is plagued by armed gangs despite
the presence of UN forces brought in after the 2004 ousting of former President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
Just ahead of Haiti and Iraq at the
bottom of the rankings, stood Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Chad and
Bangladesh. Scoring the best marks were Finland, Iceland and New Zealand, with Denmark, Singapore and
Sweden just behind.
TI said several countries had a
significant worsening of their ratings, including Brazil, Cuba, Israel, Jordan,
Laos, Seychelles, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia and the United States.
Countries which saw a major improvement
included Algeria, the Czech Republic, India, Japan, Latvia, Lebanon, Mauritius,
Paraguay, Slovenia, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Uruguay.
Nussbaum, noting the recent Enron trial,
said US court cases had highlighted the scale of corruption there and may have
contributed to the deterioration in the US score. The United States was ranked
20th, next to Belgium and Chile.
Enron’s former chief executive Jeff
Skilling was sentenced last month to 24 years in prison after being found
guilty of defrauding investors by using off-the-books deals to hide debt and
inflate profits. Once the seventh largest US firm, Enron collapsed into
bankruptcy in 2001 when the deals were disclosed. *With a report from Reuters*
