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[OPINION] Corruption and COVID response

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Is there a link between a country’s level of corruption and how it responds to the pandemic? Yes there is, and the causes and effects are evident.

Corruption weakens public institutions and corrupts the minds and actions of public officials. We see this in the never-ending repair of roads and bridges, the construction of white elephants, and the bloated cost of projects. For each license or permit that is mandated by government, there is an official fee and an under-the-table charge. We witness the accounts of whistleblowers against erring bureaucrats that continue to hold on to their positions. Those who are fired are placed elsewhere, ad infinitum .

From all indications – the worst recession since 1946 at negative 9.5% in 2020, and the worst in Southeast Asia, plus the continuing delay of a life-saving vaccination program amid the scandal of smuggled vaccines for VIPs, and the bloated price of a monopolized vaccine – these demonstrate gross negligence and incompetence of government functionaries at the minimum, and corruption at the worst.

Can government not be smarter or more diligent in the discharge of its functions?

More than a year after the onset of the virus, regulations are as senseless as they can get. A list will include the requirement of face masks even in wide, open spaces, and face shields for joggers and bikers; the imposition of a shield for back riders on motorcycles as a consequence of the foisting of face shields (the only country in the galaxy to do so) on everyone; the constricting of public transportation without provisions for alternatives; the monthly last-minute announcement on the quarantine status; among others. Lately, the overturning by the President of task force resolutions, the determination of quarantine status in Metro Manila by majority vote of politicians, and the task force’s opening of arcades and cinemas but not schools, add to the catalog.

Remember – we entered the pandemic with corruption in PhilHealth, and the pastillas scheme in the Bureau of Immigration, and the wholesale drug smuggling in the Bureau of Customs. Why should the onset of a virus suddenly cleanse the government of filth?

As of today, the Philippines has borrowed and loaned, budgeted, and allocated the grand total of one trillion pesos (P1,000,000,000,000) in the name of corona. Assuming the cost of a two-dose vaccine is on the high side of P5,000, multiplied by the total population of 120 million Filipinos, it only comes up to 6 hundred billion pesos (Php600,000,000,000). We should all be vaccinated for free; may sukli pa . With so many zeroes, where is the money?

Yet even when the private sector takes the initiative to secure vaccines, the government steps in to require that for each dose given to their employees, another must be donated to the government. This is purely an unjust taking. The justification is that these vaccines do not yet have the full government approval. The response is to quickly and carefully approve them especially if they have been approved elsewhere or are being used in the inoculation programs of several other countries.

It is now clear that because of our government’s inactions, our procurement of vaccines is at the term sheet stage, meaning, there is no contract. A term sheet is not binding and only outlines the basic conditions that the parties agree to.

Here’s why COVID-19 vaccines haven’t arrived in the Philippines yet

In the context of the “dropping the ball” and the dillydallying, the playing God and the vaccination dry run without any vaccines in sight, there is no one accountable in the governance structure. It is not a surprise. From the very beginning, in the 3 T’s strategy of tracing, testing, and treatment, which of them have been actually implemented? At the tail-end of the pandemic, we are still in our sorry state, but now with many workers laid off, families going hungry, businesses closed, and ventures shuttered for good.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) points out the vulnerabilities in emergency procurement and the use of emergency funds for COVID-19 response. If corruption attends the regular procurement process, what more the emergency ones?

Corruption can take the form of jumping the vaccination queues to favor those in power and not for those who need it most. It can be in the overpricing of testing kits, quarantine facility kickbacks, the marking up of scarce vaccines (and these events have actually happened.)

In ordinary times, corruption is sad and bad. In extraordinary times, corruption magnifies the rot and the people bear the brunt. The full story of the Philippine response to COVID-19 remains to be told, but the incompetence, impunity, and the sufferance of integrity will surely be a central part. – Rappler.com

Geronimo L. Sy is a former Assistant Secretary of the Department of Justice. He set up the Office of Cybercrime and the Office for Competition.

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Research Article

The Impact of Corruption on Filipino Youth from Academia and Police Background and Anti-Corruption Methods

• @INPROCEEDINGS{10.4108/eai.7-6-2021.2308598, author={Raul A. Aquino}, title={The Impact of Corruption on Filipino Youth from Academia and Police Background and Anti-Corruption Methods}, proceedings={Proceedings of the First International Conference on Computing, Communication and Control System, I3CAC 2021, 7-8 June 2021, Bharath University, Chennai, India}, publisher={EAI}, proceedings_a={I3CAC}, year={2021}, month={6}, keywords={impact of corruption; filipino youth; academia background; police background; anti-corruption methods}, doi={10.4108/eai.7-6-2021.2308598} }
• Raul A. Aquino Year: 2021 The Impact of Corruption on Filipino Youth from Academia and Police Background and Anti-Corruption Methods I3CAC EAI DOI: 10.4108/eai.7-6-2021.2308598
• 1: Lyceum of the Philippines (LPU), Manila Campus, Muralla St, Intramuros, Manila, 1002 Metro Manila, Philippines

Huge corruption has caused major national institutions such as the judiciary, military, police, schools and other public service providers to fail to perform their functions effectively, fail to perform their duties, and fail to best serve the interests of the people, resulting in many serious societies Issues such as poverty, broken discipline, failure of the judicial system, a culture of distrust and impunity. This study aims to determine the impact of corruption on Filipino youth and identify some anti-corruption methods. Both qualitative and quantitative research approaches were used to gather the research data. This study gathered the primary data through a survey of Filipino youths from the academic and police backgrounds of the National Capital Region. The prepared questionnaires focused on the perceived effects of corruption to the Filipino youth and the solutions in fighting corruption. Specifically, the survey identifies the perceived effects of corruption to the respondents and the society in general, the present assessment on government’s actions and performance in fighting corruption as well as, the solutions to address the problem of corruption in the Philippine. The results obtained indicate that most respondents are anti-corruption. They are also aware of the negative effects of corruption on them and society. The government must fully support anti-corruption. Some proposed anti-corruption solution is to educate

The Philippines: a social structure of corruption

• Published: 06 February 2024

Cite this article

• Andrew Guth   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-6247-4955 1  

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The anticorruption community largely views corruption as a government or development issue. But in the Philippines, corruption is a social structure. The very social bonds and social structures that are good at building civic unity and solidarity are also good at spreading and maintaining corruption, and this is why corruption is so difficult to remove. Patrons use these societal features to implement a ubiquitous social structure of corruption by means of maneuvered friendships that makes it difficult for the masses to know when a patron is acting as a friend or foe. The social structure encompasses the whole of society and corrupts the encircled government, political, and development systems as easily as it infiltrates all other segments of society. It is why oversight and sector-based anticorruption initiatives underperform, and why initiatives must pivot towards addressing this social structure.

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Governance and Good Governance: A New Framework for Political Analysis

Douglass north’s theory of institutions: lessons for law and development, quick fix solutions-anticorruption as core/peripheral modality of the ‘rule of law’, data availability.

The author’s interview notes generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are not publicly available to help ensure confidentiality of the interviewees, but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Pronounced ‘leader’ in English, lider is a term used in the Philippines specifically referring to individuals (or leaders) in the community that are sought by candidates to convince the electorate to vote for that particular candidate. Liders are the individuals that perform the physical exchange of money for votes with the electorate.

A barangay is the lowest level of elected government. Each city or municipality is comprised of multiple barangays (villages).

See Appendix for a full list of respondents.

Interviews 2–3, 6, 14–16, 18–20, 22, 25, 39, 41–42, 44–50.

Utang na loob is usually translated as “debt of gratitude.” The literal translation is “debt of inside” or “internal debt.” It can also be translated as “reciprocity” or “lifelong reciprocation.”

Interviews 1,14,21,24,42–44.

The paper uses the term ‘client’ to represent the economically lower-class voters who are in clientelistic relationships with political families/candidates (patrons).

Interviews 1,14,24,42–44.

Clans are a connection of least ten extended families – usually more – where each extended family could have more than a hundred members. Clans then have a minimum of a thousand members and usually much more.

Interviews 2,5–6,9–10,14–51.

Interviews 3–6,9–10,12,14–23,25–26,27–51.

Interviews 3–6, 9–10,12,14–23,25–26,27–51.

Interviews 14–22,25–26,39,47–50.

Interviews 16,22,27–38.

Interviews 14,16,21,24,39,42–44.

Interviews 16,22.

Interview 22.

Interview 23.

Interviews 1,20.

Interviews 2,5,14–23,26,32–39,41,45,47–51.

Interviews 15–16,20,22.

Interviews 27–31.

Interview 24.

Interviews 2,6,10.

Interview 22–23.

Interviews 14,18,32–38.

Interviews 32–38.

Interviews 1,10,18–22,32–38,47–49,50–51.

Interviews 2–4,6,14–15,20,22,40,45–49.

Interview 16.

Interviews 2–3.

Interview 3.

Interviews 1,3–6,10,12,15,50.

Interview 15.

Interviews 2–3,6,15.

BARMM consists of the region formally known as the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) plus the addition of Cotabato City and villages in northern Cotabato.

Interviews 3–4.

Interview 1.

Interview 3–4,6,10,12.

Interview 7.

Interviews 2–3,6,14–16,18–20,22,25,39,41–42,44–50.

Interviews 1,3–7,10,12,14–15.

Interviews 1,3–4,6,9–10,14,16–18,24.

Interviews 1, 3–4,6,9–10,14,16–18,24.

COMELEC is the Commission on Elections in charge of ensuring fair and free elections.

Interviews 3–4,6–7.

Interview 6.

Interviews 14–15,25–26.

Interviews 14–16,25–26,32–38.

Interviews 14–15,25–26,32–38.

Interviews 14–16,20,22–23,25–38.

Interview 21.

Interview 2.

Interview 14,21,49.

Interviews 2,16,20,22–23,27–31.

Interviews 1,2.

Interviews 52,54–59,61–64,66–67.

Interviews 6,14,16,18–19,21–23,25,50.

Interviews 3–4,18,52,54–59,61–64,66–67.

Interviews 3–4,6–8,52,54–55,56–58,61,64.

Interviews 2–3,6,14–16,18–22,25,39,41–42,44–50.

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Guth, A. The Philippines: a social structure of corruption. Crime Law Soc Change (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10611-024-10140-2

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DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s10611-024-10140-2

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A look at how corruption works in the Philippines

The Philippines is perceived to be one of the most corrupt countries in the world. Of 180 countries, the Philippines ranked 116 in terms of being least corrupt. This means that the country is almost on the top one-third of the most corrupt countries, based on the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) published by Transparency International.

According to CPI, the Philippines scored a total of 33 points out of 100. Even as far back as 2012, it has fluctuated around the same CPI score, with the highest score being 38 points in 2014 and the lowest being 33 points in 2021 and 2022. To further contextualize how low it scored, the regional average CPI score for the Asia-Pacific region is 45, with zero as highly corrupt. And of the 31 countries and territories in the region, the Philippines placed 22nd (tied with Mongolia).

It must be noted, however, that CPI measures perceptions of corruption and is not necessarily the reality of the state of corruption. CPI reflects the views of experts or surveys of business people on a number of corrupt behavior in the public sector (such as bribery, diversion of public funds, nepotism in the civil service, use of public office for private gain, etc.). CPI also measures the available mechanisms to prevent corruption, such as enforcement mechanisms, effective prosecution of corrupt officials, red tape, laws on adequate financial disclosure and legal protection for whistleblowers.

These data are taken from other international organizations, such as the World Bank, World Economic Forum, private consulting companies and think tanks.

Of course, measuring actual corruption is quite difficult, especially as it involves under-the-table activities that are only discovered when they are prosecuted, like in the case of the ill-gotten wealth of the Marcoses, which was estimated to be up to $10 billion based on now-deleted Guinness World Records and cited as the “biggest robbery of a government.” Nevertheless, there still exists a correlation between corruption and corruption perceptions.

4 Syndromes

Corruption does not come in a single form as well. In a 2007 study, Michael Johnston, a political scientist and professor emeritus at Colgate University in the United States, studied four syndromes (categories) of corruption that were predominant in Asia, citing Japan, Korea, China and the Philippines as prime examples of each category.

The first category is Influence Market Corruption, wherein politicians peddle their influence to provide connections to other people, essentially serving as middlemen. The second category is Elite Cartel Corruption, wherein there exist networks of elites that may collude to protect their economic and political advantages. The third form of corruption is the Official Mogul Corruption, wherein economic moguls (or their clients) are usually the top political figures and face few constraints from the state or their competitors.

Finally, there is the form of corruption that the Philippines is familiar with. Oligarch-and-Clan Corruption is present in countries with major political and economic liberalization and weak institutions. Corruption of this kind has been characterized by Johnston as having “disorderly, sometimes violent scramble among contending oligarchs seeking to parlay personal resources into wealth and power.” Other than the Philippines, corruption in Bangladesh, India, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka falls under the same syndrome.

In the Philippines, Oligarch-and-Clan Corruption manifests itself in the political system. As Johnston noted, in this kind of corruption, there is difficulty in determining what is public and what is private (i.e., who is a politician and who is an entrepreneur). Oligarchs attempt to use their power for their private benefit or the benefit of their families. From the Aquinos, Binays, Dutertes, Roxases and, most notoriously, the Marcoses, the Philippines is no stranger to political families. In a 2017 chart by Todd Cabrera Lucero, he traced the lineage of Philippine presidents and noted them to be either related by affinity or consanguinity.

Corruption in the Philippines by oligarch families is not unheard of. In fact, the most notable case of corruption in the Philippines was committed by an oligarchic family—the Marcos family. The extent of the wealth stolen by former dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr. and his wife has been well-documented. In fact, several Supreme Court cases clearly show the extent of the wealth that the Marcoses had stolen.

In an Oligarch-and-Clan system of corruption, oligarchs will also leverage whatever governmental authority they have to their advantage. Going back to the Marcos example, despite their convictions, the Marcoses have managed to weasel their way back into power, with Ferdinand Marcos Jr. becoming the 17th President despite his conviction for tax violation. Several politicians have also been convicted of graft and corruption (or have at least been hounded by allegations of corruption) and still remain in politics. As observed by Johnston in his article, though Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos are the popular images of corruption in the Philippines, he also noted other entrenched oligarchs throughout the country.

Finally, factions also tend to be “unstable and poorly disciplined.” The term “balimbing” is often thrown around in local politics but, more than that, the Philippines is also familiar with politically-motivated violence and disorder.

All these features are characteristics of Oligarch-and-Clan corruption, where these oligarchic families continue to hold power and politicians exploit their positions to enrich themselves or their families.

Corruption, no matter what kind, needs to be curbed. It results in loss of government money, which could have been used to boost the economy and help ordinary citizens, especially those from the lower income sectors.

According to the 2007 study, the Office of the Ombudsman had, in 1999, pegged losses arising from corruption at P100 million daily, whereas the World Bank estimates the losses at one-fifth of the national government budget. For relatively more updated figures, former Deputy Ombudsman Cyril Ramos claimed that the Philippines had lost a total of P1.4 trillion in 2017 and 2018. These estimates are in line with the World Bank estimates of one-fifth (or 20 percent) of the national budget.

So grave is the adverse effect of corruption that the international community recognized it as an international crime under the United Nations Convention Against Corruption where perpetual disqualification of convicted officials is recommended.

But the question stands: can corruption be eradicated in developing countries like the Philippines? Many Philippine presidents promised to end corruption in their political campaigning, but none has achieved it so far. If the government truly wants to end corruption, it must implement policies directed against corruption, such as lifting the bank secrecy law, prosecuting and punishing corrupt officials, increasing government transparency and more. INQ

This is part of the author’s presentation at DPI 543 Corruption: Finding It and Fixing It course at Harvard Kennedy School, where he is MPA/Mason fellow.

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This article reflects the personal opinion of the author and not the official stand of the Management Association of the Philippines or MAP. He is a member of MAP Tax Committee and MAP Ease of Doing Business Committee, co-chair of Paying Taxes on Ease of Doing Business Task Force and chief tax advisor of Asian Consulting Group. Feedback at [email protected] and [email protected] .

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KORUPSYON SA PILIPINAS

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Essay on Corruption for Students and Children

500+ words essay on corruption.

Essay on Corruption – Corruption refers to a form of criminal activity or dishonesty. It refers to an evil act by an individual or a group. Most noteworthy, this act compromises the rights and privileges of others. Furthermore, Corruption primarily includes activities like bribery or embezzlement. However, Corruption can take place in many ways. Most probably, people in positions of authority are susceptible to Corruption. Corruption certainly reflects greedy and selfish behavior.

Methods of Corruption

First of all, Bribery is the most common method of Corruption. Bribery involves the improper use of favours and gifts in exchange for personal gain. Furthermore, the types of favours are diverse. Above all, the favours include money, gifts, company shares, sexual favours, employment , entertainment, and political benefits. Also, personal gain can be – giving preferential treatment and overlooking crime.

Embezzlement refers to the act of withholding assets for the purpose of theft. Furthermore, it takes place by one or more individuals who were entrusted with these assets. Above all, embezzlement is a type of financial fraud.

The graft is a global form of Corruption. Most noteworthy, it refers to the illegal use of a politician’s authority for personal gain. Furthermore, a popular way for the graft is misdirecting public funds for the benefit of politicians .

Extortion is another major method of Corruption. It means to obtain property, money or services illegally. Above all, this obtainment takes place by coercing individuals or organizations. Hence, Extortion is quite similar to blackmail.

Favouritism and nepotism is quite an old form of Corruption still in usage. This refers to a person favouring one’s own relatives and friends to jobs. This is certainly a very unfair practice. This is because many deserving candidates fail to get jobs.

Abuse of discretion is another method of Corruption. Here, a person misuses one’s power and authority. An example can be a judge unjustly dismissing a criminal’s case.

Finally, influence peddling is the last method here. This refers to illegally using one’s influence with the government or other authorized individuals. Furthermore, it takes place in order to obtain preferential treatment or favour.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

Ways of Stopping Corruption

One important way of preventing Corruption is to give a better salary in a government job. Many government employees receive pretty low salaries. Therefore, they resort to bribery to meet their expenses. So, government employees should receive higher salaries. Consequently, high salaries would reduce their motivation and resolve to engage in bribery.

Tough laws are very important for stopping Corruption. Above all, strict punishments need to be meted out to guilty individuals. Furthermore, there should be an efficient and quick implementation of strict laws.

Applying cameras in workplaces is an excellent way to prevent corruption. Above all, many individuals would refrain from indulging in Corruption due to fear of being caught. Furthermore, these individuals would have otherwise engaged in Corruption.

The government must make sure to keep inflation low. Due to the rise in prices, many people feel their incomes to be too low. Consequently, this increases Corruption among the masses. Businessmen raise prices to sell their stock of goods at higher prices. Furthermore, the politician supports them due to the benefits they receive.

To sum it up, Corruption is a great evil of society. This evil should be quickly eliminated from society. Corruption is the poison that has penetrated the minds of many individuals these days. Hopefully, with consistent political and social efforts, we can get rid of Corruption.

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