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Justine Tupe's Final Wikipedia Article - Corruption in the Philippines

The Philippines experiences widespread corruption, evidenced in the form of: graft, bribery, embezzlement, nepotism, and patronage, in the public sphere. According to the Corruption Perception Index in 2017, the Philippines is ranked as a highly corrupt country, ranking 111th out of 180 countries, placing the Philippines in between Algeria (ranked 112th) and Vietnam (ranked 107th). According to ABS-CBN News, the Philippines’ ranking in 2017 was the lowest ranking in 5 years.

In terms of upholding the freedom of the press, the Philippines is regarded as one of the worst offenders in the Asia-Pacific region. In terms of doing business in the Philippines, corruption is ranked among the top problematic factors, as reported by the World Economic Forum's 2016-2017 Global Competitiveness Report.

Scholars such as Jose N. Endriga (1979) and Jon Quah (2004) outline that the prevalence of corruption in the Philippines is tied to the colonial legacy of Spanish rule. Quah (1982) argues that the “low salaries and poor working conditions of the bureaucrats and the many opportunities available for corrupt behaviour contributed to the widespread corruption in the colonial bureaucracy.”

The U.S. Government Publishing Office states that corruption in the Philippines is tied to the cultural phenomenon, utang na loob, or repayment of debts, which describes a societal pressure for a Filipino to help a friend or relative in need.

Politically, Filipino bureaucrats such as the President, then Dictator, Ferdinand Marcos (1985-1986) and President Joseph Estrada (1992-1998), have been involved in grand corruption. These scandals occur often and are not always persecuted by the Filipino judicial system, leaving corrupt politicians unpunished for their abuse of office.

Estimates of public losses from corruption by the Ombudsman, the Commission on Audit, and the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism evaluate that very large amounts of public funds are lost to corruption, though these measures are rough and imprecise.

As stated by the World Bank report, Combatting Corruption in the Philippines, corruption: discourages foreign and domestic investment, inhibits economic growth and slows human development. The report states that combatting corruption would alleviate poverty and enable the Philippines to increase the amount of international aid received.

Anti-Corruption Bodies in the Philippines
The Philippines' Office of the Ombudsman investigates and prosecutes cases of alleged graft and corruption involving public officials. High-ranking official corruption cases are specially handled by the anti-corruption court, “Sandiganbayan”. The Office of the Ombudsman routinely investigates public officials, but convictions by the courts are limited, often appealed, and can be overturned.

Historical Background of Corruption in the Philippines
Jose N. Endriga (1979) argues that the Philippine’s historical upbringing in colonization has led to its corruption today. Among the examples given, Endriga states that under Spanish rule, from 1521 to 1898, civil servants received inadequate payment which provided incentives for civil servants to engage in corruption to augment their income. This stance is supported by Quah (1982) who states that corruption was introduced to the Philippines by the Spanish due to the low salary offered to bureaucrats.”

Endriga points that corruption most likely existed in its own form in the Philippines before the arrival of the Spanish to counter the ideal of pre-colonial Filipinos as “noble savages”.

Regardless, Endriga outlines that the prevalence of corruption declined during the period of American colonization due to: higher salaries allotted to civil servants, which decreased the bureaucrats incentive to engage in corruption out of fear of losing their job, and stricter enforcement of the rule of law coupled with harsher judicial punishment allotted to civil servants who were found guilty of corruption.

However, David Kang, a Professor of International Relations and Business at the University of Southern California, argues that the elite class structure created by Spanish colonization was continued by the Americans, which has enabled an elite class structure to be upheld up to the present day. For example, many of the politicians in the Philippines today are descendants from the traditional oligarchy of the colonial past.

Political nepotism
The Philippine political arena is mainly arranged and operated by families or alliances of families, rather than organised around the voting for political parties.

Called the Padrino System, one gains favor, promotion, or political appointment through family affiliation (nepotism) or friendship (cronyism), as opposed to one's merit. The Padrino System in the Philippines has been the source of many controversies and corruption.

From the lowest Barangay official, to the President of the Republic, it is expected that one engages in corruption, by gaining political debts and dispensing political favor to advance one's career, influence or wealth.

President Ferdinand Marcos (1985-1986)
During his time in office, Ferdinand Marcos centralized government functions, offering Marcos the ability to engage in crony capitalism, allotting economic privileges such as: awarding contracts, padding expenses, and providing kickbacks, to a small percentage of the population. . Marcos’ crony capitalism involved the monopolization of manufacturing, construction, and financial services. For example, Philippine Airlines, the oldest airline in the Philippines, became nationalized under the Marcos regime.

Marcos’ crony capitalism was coupled with massive government spending on infrastructure projects which were financed through international aid and foreign investments, leading to high levels of government debt. The benefits of Marcos’ infrastructure projects were not experienced by the Filipino public, instead cronies tied to the Marcos regime received large loans from the government, government-owned institutions, or from the private market, who understood which companies had close ties with Marcos, were allotted contracts for projects that often did not come to fruition. A 1987 government study determined that 25 percent of the national budget had been lost to graft and corruption. Estimates of Marcos's wealth ran from a low of US$3 billion to a high of US$30 billion. According to David C. Kang, scholars refer to Ferdinand Marcos as the archetype of bureaucratic corruption. Marcos is ranked 2nd on Forbes’ The World’s All-Time Most Corrupt Leaders List.

Crony capitalism during the Marcos regime negatively impacted the country's economic development beginning in the 1980s, as the international community began to react to the Marcos regime by decreasing foreign investment and aid.

President Joseph Estrada (1998-2001)
In 2000, an investigation of the former President Joseph Estrada’s wealth was launched by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ). The investigation found former Estrada involved in corruption, with Estrada failing to declare the full extent of his assets in his 1999 tax statement. After the impeachment court suspended the trial to convict the former President Joseph Estrada for PCIJ's allegations of corruption in 2001, an outbreak of public protests, known as EDSA II, occurred in Manila and the military officially withdrew support of the government. The combination these public movements ousted President Estrada from office. Shortly after Estrada’s resignation, the Philippine Ombudsman filed two charges at the Sandiganbayan; one for plunder and the other for perjury.

The plunder case consisted of four separate charges: acceptance of 545 million pesos from proceeds of jueteng, an illegal gambling game; misappropriation of 130 million pesos in excise taxes from tobacco; receiving a 189.7-million-peso commission from the sale of the shares of Belle Corporation, a real-estate firm; and owning some 3.2 billion pesos in a bank account under the name Jose Velarde. The minor charge of perjury is for Estrada under-reporting his assets in his 1999 statement of assets, liabilities and net worth and for the illegal use of an alias, namely for the Jose Velarde bank account. Estrada's son, Jinggoy Estrada, an incumbent senator, and Edward Serapio, his personal lawyer were his co-accused.

On September 7, 2007, Sandiganbayan convicted Estrada with four counts of corruption, involving diversion of funds amounting to about 4b pesos (42m USD), and sentenced Estrada to life imprisonment.

On October 25, 2007, President Arroyo unconditionally pardoned former President Estrada

Joseph Estrada is ranked 10th place on Forbes’ The World’s All-Time Most Corrupt Leaders List.

President Gloria Arroyo (2001 - 2010)
In June 2006, an impeachment complaint was filed against President Arroyo in the House of Representatives, detailing President Arroyo's engagement with electoral fraud and crimes against activists and journalists. The allegations were denied by President Arroyo. In August 2006, the complaints were officially dismissed by the House of Representatives. Further impeachment complaints on the grounds of corruption and fraud were received in October 2007 and November 2007. The complaints included President Arroyo’s alleged involvement in bribery, electoral fraud in the 2004 elections, and awarding a Government contract to a foreign telecommunications company in a corrupt manner. Evidence included a phone recording between President Arroyo and an election official, Virgilio Garcillano, which insinuated that she had conspired to commit electoral fraud during the 2004 elections. Arroyo denied all allegations, claiming that the current president, President Benigno Aquino - was pursuing a personal vendetta against her and using his anti-corruption campaign to punish her, as reported by BBC's Kate McGeown in Manila. On November 26, 2007, the House of Representatives voted 184-1 to official dismiss the impeachment complaints.

A Reuter’s poll in 2007 published that the Philippine public viewed President Arroyo as the “most corrupt Philippine leader in history,” exceeding the positions of Ferdinand Marcos and Joseph Estrada.

After the end of her second term as President in 2010, Arroyo faced renewed complaints detailing acts of corruption, specifically, electoral fraud. Arroyo was subsequently investigated for her alleged crimes, and in November 2011 Arroyo was arrested for electoral fraud. Due to a personal illness, Arroyo was detained in the Veterans Memorial Medical Center in Quezon City. A Government decision made in 2011 barred Arroyo from leaving the country to seek medical treatment. Arroyo's legal representative, Raul Lambino, supported Arroyo's stance and repeated that the case was fabricated and created a petition which questioned the government's travel ban. In February 2012, Arroyo pleaded not guilty for the charges of electoral fraud made against her. However, new charges was filed against her for accepting bribes from foreign contracts, for which she received bail in July 2012. Later in 2012, Arroyo was arrested for plunder, due to her alleged misuse of P366 million in Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) intelligence funds from 2008 to 2010. On Tuesday, July 19 2016, The Supreme Court of the Philippines dismissed the plunder case against Arroyo, in a vote of 11-4, claiming insufficient evidence to connect Arroyo to the misuse of PCSO funds.

Current Anti-Corruption Legislation in the Philippines
UN Anticorruption Convention, OECD Convention on Combatting Bribery In 2003, the Philippines ratified the United Nations Convention against Corruption. However, the Philippines is not a signatory to the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery.

The Philippine Development Plan 2017-2022 plans to reduce corruption by streamlining government processes and establishing mechanisms for citizens to report complaints. In October 2016, President Rodrigo Duterte established a "citizens complaint hotline” and “complaint center” for the public to directly report corruption in government agencies via hotline, text (SMS) and social media.

The Philippine Revised Penal Code, the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, and the Code of Ethical Conduct for Public Officialsall of which aim to combat corruption in the public sphere and in business practices.