Transparency groups: Corruption worsened under Gloria Arroyo's watch

PAGC INEFFECTIVE, SAYS TI-RP HEAD
Transparency groups: Corruption worsened

Daily Tribune 05/22/2008
The Arroyo administration became the focus of criticisms yesterday from delegates of a regional conference of the Transparency International (TI) who were unanimous in saying incidences of corruption in the country were perceived to have worsened rather than improved.

The country under President Arroyo's watch would likely sink further down the ladder in the global corruption perceptions index based on surveys recently made on the level of irregular dealings involving government, TI-Philippines chairman Dolores Espanol said.
Espanol's assessment was backed up by TI regional director Pascal Fabie who said the government has failed to make any progress in reducing corruption in the Philippines over the past year.

In the TI corruption perception index for last year, the Philippines was ranked 131st of 180 nations included in the survey with a 2.5 rating. It was lumped with Burundi, Honduras, Iran, Libya, Nepal and Yemen. Its ranking was among the worst in Asia.
Espanol cited surveys conducted by the Political and Economic Risk Consultancy (Perc) based in Hong Kong and the periodic surveys made by the Social Weather Station that showed the perceptions of corruption continue to worsen in the country.