Malacañang said the Philippines dropping 14 places in the 2019 global corruption index will serve as a motivation for the government to work harder in its anti-corruption drive.
Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo made the statement following reports that the Philippines’ ranking in the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) dropped from 99th in 2018 to 113th in 2019.
“It will goad us to sack more corrupt officials, provided, of course, there is evidence to show that they are,” Panelo said in his Monday press briefing.
However, Panelo said the government was still having difficulties in its campaign against corruption because of the lack of evidence and because not many people were coming forward.
“The problem is this: There are many complaints of corruption but the President, as a lawyer, needs certain documentary and testimonial evidence to give him the basis. And many Filipinos are still afraid to reveal themselves, or to give the evidence of the sort,” he explained.
The Palace official, meanwhile, admitted that Duterte was struggling in fulfilling his promise to end corruption because of due process.
“We are, in fact, struggling because the President’s hands are tied by the due process clause of the Constitution,” Panelo said.
“It would be different if all of these have been appointed by the President, you can just dismiss them outright. You have to file charges against them, you need evidence to back your complaint,” he added.
However, Panelo said the slide in the Philippines’ ranking was not an indication that the anti-corruption drive of the government was a failure.
“We’ve been fighting corruption and as we have seen, the President has been firing top officials. And the complaints against erring government officials have been charged in the Ombudsman and in courts,” he said.
Among others, Duterte vowed during his campaign for the presidency in 2016 to eliminate corruption in government.
He, later on, admitted that fighting corruption was not an easy task, even admitting that stepping down crossed his mind.
Dropping 14 places from 2018, the Philippines got a score of 34 in a scale of 0 to 100 where 0 is given to the least corrupt country.
The Philippines got the same score are Kazakhstan, Nepal, El Salvador, Eswatini and Zambia. The score of 34 was also two points lower than the one the Philippines got in 2018.
The country’s score was said to be the lowest it got since 2012. Although it obtained the same score of 34 in 2017, its ranking then was 111th. (Argyll Cyrus B. Geducos)
